What was once a distant rumbling out in the heartland is now a loud roar like the sound of thunder as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride through the vast empty parking lots of America’s malls.
Whispers of their coming have been heard for years now. In the distant past, the mighty box stores stormed across the country like the Roman legions of old, closing Main Street America one town after another. In their wake, they left ghost towns, boarded up buildings, the jobless and homeless.
The retail reckoning is now here. Stores by the hundreds are closing. Malls are becoming big empty mausoleums full of sad stories, broken dreams, and thousands out of work. The shock waves can be devastating.
What Happened?
The big retailers built hundreds, even thousands of stores. Big ones 35,000 to 55,000 square foot stores. They filled those stores with incredible amounts of merchandise. They hired hundreds of employees to tend to your every need.
In the end, the box stores became unsustainable. Inventory was cut. Payroll was reduced, cost soared, stores started shutting down.
Customer service became a thing of the past. In most cases, you would be lucky to find an associate much less have them help you.
Presentation and standards fell by the wayside. Bays and tables are a mess. Nothing is signed or priced. Merchandise is laying on the floor with people stepping on them.
Leaders are nowhere in sight. The CEOs don’t know what is happening. Who is in charge? Where are the people that care and could fix this? Leadership has failed.
POINT OF VIEW
In the ten years I worked in big box stores the staff went from seventy people to twenty-five when I left. The workload and the expectations remained the same as with seventy people.
I was in one of those stores not long ago with my grandson and no one was in customer service. No one was in the section where we were shopping. I finally found one associate but she was surrounded by about eight people and the checkout line was fifteen people deep with one cashier. I never saw a manager and no one answered the cashier’s repeated calls for help ringing customers. People were angry and no one was in charge.
To survive the Retail Apocalypse we must go back to the basics:
Hire great people. Train them and develop them.
Present a clean and crisp presentation with full-size runs and have always available product using a combination of in-store and online available ordering in real time at the store level.
Provide engaging customer service, fast cashiering, and management support on the floor.
Create an environment of dynamic engagement where dynamic and innovative change can take place.
Have a platform where your staff can grow and give them the tools to be successful.
Most of all, listen to your staff. Success starts on the street level and the stores are the frontline.
Good post, Larry. Quite a phenomena. We are not quite at that level yet, small country as we are. The issue is that there are less and less stores to begin with, and I have no idea where it elderly get their support going forward, or families with small kids. Same with medical services. To the 5th largest country geographically in Europe with wide area per person – I wonder what services will look like. Even the algorithms cannot fix everything..
Sad but true. Some weeks ago I went into a big chain store in the largest mall in our area. Finally found what I was looking for and took it to the cashier kiosk. 8 others were there and a millennial cashier was stumped as to how to make change or compute the sales tax on an $8 purchase. The computer was down and she was at a total loss. Finally, a supervisor showed up and helped her. He explained that the regional computer guru for the chain was some 120 miles away and couldn’t be there until the next day. Thirty percent of the stores in this regional mall has closed, so clearly, the mall is in serious trouble. However, a new mall is now under construction across the street. Curious.
I have to say in my humble opinion in retail they don’t seem to learn from others mistakes. We have them all here when you get anchor store left and there must have been at least eight different stores there in the last five years. I just don’t understand why people seem to insist on failing
Many credit the failure of the Blockbuster video store to how they managed their store and their in-store experience. I remember getting hit with late fees twice because I returned a three day rental and then told when I was returning it that it was really a two day and I was late. I stopped going to Blockbuster after that. And I wasn’t alone.
I rarely go to retail stores now. Part of it is the limited selection and having to hunt down an associate to get some questions answered. The other part is how I’m treated at the cashier. What’s your phone number? What’s your zip? Do you want a 10% discount card so we can track you?
I have a stronger relationship with the store-front than the the store people.
I agree with you Chris. A lot of what retail stores are doing now is out of desperation.