Meet the new UK supermarket: Are we there yet? Fortunately not!

This week I heard the news that one of the big four UK supermarket chains (Sainsbury's) has decided to stop plans to increase the number of shops.  

What the news suggested was that senior managers and executives took this decision based on the worryingly share increase of not so big supermarkets like Lidle and Aldi.  Sainsbury's like Tesco now want to concentrate on making existing shops more appealing to customers.  

Bits of memory recall from something I read in the UK Guardian newspaper tell me that this type of decision can be challenged. Aldi and Lidle have only a tiny portion of the market.  So expecting them to grow exponentially or taking a bigger share from the big four is not realistic.  

What the big four seem to be suffering is from a lack of understanding of the fact that people like you and I do not spend as much as we used to in supermarkets. 

The reasons (and I write about what I read plus other bits)?  Well, for a start the economic crisis.  We have become more conscious, also because we do not want to throw away food that we do not consume (this might explain why the big four still take a big share via express shops).  Second (and related to a express way of shopping), some of us have managed to squeeze some flexibility in our lives, so that we still shop but for fewer items when we need to.  

This is not to say that we still have a big shopping during the week.  Only that we leave things for later when we really need them.  What is wrong with that? 

Third, online shopping has also made us more aware.  The consumer experience online is not leading to prefer online shopping but rather to avoid deception. Just think of the last time you bought something that looked good on the screen, only to find out it was not what you expected. Supermarkets have taken advantage of this type of 'natural' error by keeping your favourite shopping list online.  I keep making mistakes by ordering the same without realising that I do not consume some of these 'preferred' ones. 

So either physically or online, supermarkets seem to entice us to go back shopping but without considering fully the above reasons.  

Ironically I go physically more often to supermarkets than I used to and I notice the following.

Lots of people (including myself) make the trip as an excuse to entertain myself and my kids.  We go searching for a bit of fresh air and something nice to treat ourselves and our loved ones.  We could do with some add ons, like for instance nicer spaces to seat and have coffee; a post office, a news agent; a dentist or a GP; children's entertainment; a venue to do a bit of sport, or listen to music.  

We want to have a good experience, not only do the shopping.  

But what are we getting instead?  Petrol stations (inaccessible if you go by foot); travel exchange money shops; electronics shops; cardboard and plastics recycling (ok, this is handy but partially, as it is also inaccessible by foot); insurance salespeople; credit card salespeople; tons of alcohol piled up here and there.  

And the list continues...

I think it is time supermarkets reinvent themselves.  Fortunately the big four have become puzzled by what others are doing. So they need to look at themselves deep and hard.  

I do not think they need to follow cost-based business models (like Aldi and Lidle's although they are also good at bringing nice products from the European continent).  

Supermarkets need to turn your eyes to the communities around them.  

And if they are going to use information technology, they should make it help us to have a pleasant and honest experience either online or offline.  

  

Nice one IKEA, could I now get my pay check as I helped you sort out this mess?

On the move...of houses.  Me and my family have finally moved to our new place. 

And like many other people, we have bought furniture and other things from IKEA, the big store that has almost everything.

To its credit, the superstores have been thought of as innovative experiences, something like taking a flight whilst you are still on the ground.  They design a journey for you to go through different sections, get ideas, measure things, ask for advice, use computer software, have a nice lunch with the family, get Swedish groceries and even get to change the nappies of your little ones.  IKEA is the only store where I found a baby changing unit in the men's toilet.  And they also have a children's play area, only that it is for those aged 3 or over.  

The business/service model 'works' for IKEA on the basis that  additional costs are offset because it is you who can collect your goods and take them with you.  You can check the inventory of each superstore if you need to.  You can get things straight away by going there instead of buying them online. At the store you pick the goods from a warehouse area.  If they are too heavy or bulky to fit in your car, you can then give them back and they will deliver to your door next day.  For a fee.

And you can assemble things yourself.  

Great.  

I live in a DIY country.  By this I mean many people assemble things themselves.  They paint; decorate; install.  So much so that when we moved to our new place the builders we hired discovered all the wonders that DIY people do.

The DIY country is also a cowboy builders one.  This means that often, DIY people just patch things up, and leave many surprises to you.  

Great. 

Yes, IKEA gives people the chance to buy cheap, with an OK degree of quality.  It also gives them free reign to do whatever they want.  Not only IKEA, but all those in the DIY sector.  

Whilst doing this, IKEA creates many systemic effects which makes me thing I should get paid by them:

• The website is not great.  I thought I had bought a pair of chairs together with their cushions.  Only the cushions arrived, as I had to also select the chair frames.  The website let me carry on without selecting frames.  When I called them, they said I needed to go to the superstore because they would not sell me the frames only.  As I showed my disappointment, the woman on the phone suggested: "Have a talk with your partner and decide what to do".  We decided to go to the superstore with our children:  30 miles each way (with horrible traffic at the entrance), plus 3 hours doing the superstore tour and having lunch.  Should I complain about this?  Well, let's carry on.  
• Even if you can buy things online, the delivery times given by the website are at least one week later.  That is another reason why we went to the superstore.  I have yet to discover faster options. 
• Whilst at the store, I have to join the stream of visitors.  It is like going to an exhibition.  We have to move fast.  You can picture this with two toddlers, each in a sort of supermarket trolley, trying to grab everything that they can.  
• The first time we went to the store, we were 'lucky' that the stuff was so heavy we were helped to send it straight away to delivery from the warehouse section for next day delivery.  They said they would deliver at 11am. So I got ready to be at our new place to receive the items. They arrived 3 hours later.  Driver and helper looked so tired that I gave them a hand.  And they had to make 6 more deliveries on that day!! 
• The second time we went to the store, we picked the stuff ourselves.  With the twins in our trolleys (it was only me and my wife), we were lucky again that the boxes just fitted in the trolleys and later on in our car (I was given different box sizes in the website).

If I can account for the time I spent helping IKEA (at the store, in my house); the time spent by one of the builders assembling things well in our new place; the time of my wife helping out and the time of my twins (enduring the journeys), I should probably ask IKEA for a pay check.

They would probably say that still they helped me save a few quid.  But who is right here?  Me or them?  

All I can say is that we live in an age where computers help everyone to feel we are in control of things, specially in control of time and money, in control of our lives.  But we are not.  IKEA would claim they are helping me in my dream of having a new place.  I could also claim I am helping them by sorting out the messes they cause with their business model.  

We need better business models.  Models in which technology (i.e. websites, call centres) serves people by giving more options; by helping us make better decisions (for instance the decision to go to a store); by reducing false expectations (i.e. delivery times).  By not treating us like 'stupid' people (those who did not know how they or their technology works) whilst claiming that we are very intelligent, savvy, DIY customers.

And yes, together we are creating messes.  I know I am responsible for these messes, they should accept it as well.

From Orange to Sour: Why Mobile Phone Companies may go bust because of their attitude.

Today in the UK a mobile phone retailer called Phones4U has gone bust.  It has called the administrators.

I happened to be walking today when I passed one of their branches in the Peacocks shopping centre in Woking.  

The door was partially open, and the salesmen were having what looked like a meeting.  Definitely what went in the headquarters was affecting the future of these people. 

Poor guys I thought to myself, and popped in by my until now mobile provider branch:  ORANGE, who is now owned by EE.

I asked a question about when I would get a code as I want to switch to another company which gives me a new phone and a better deal for my needs.  I was given some short answers, including "you will have to speak to customer service as I do not fully about your case".

Out of curiosity I asked if they had a better deal than the one I am getting.  They do not.  I asked if they were prepared to match the deal, to which they said: No.  

Then I said, you are losing a loyal customer of over 6 years.  The salesman replied: "we are not prepared to lose some money in one single customer, we keep getting new customers everyday, you can then go, have a nice day".

And then the teacher in me popped out and I tried to explain that I teach at university and that I know that gaining new customers is more expensive than trying to keep existing ones.  

This salesmen replied that he has over 10 years experience and he knows about word of mouth, and he does not need to be lectured. I tried to reason and also I said he should consider the concept of loyalty.  He said something else I do not remember,  raised his voice and showed me the door.  To which I replied that he was mistreating me and to my knowledge I was not mistreating him. And I left.  

If this is the attitude that mobile phone retailers are adopting, so it is no surprise some of them go bust.  At the retail level, people seem to be pressured to gain new customers.  Whether they have the power to bargain in order to retain existing ones I do not know.  

But what I know is that a good attitude makes the difference.  Even if I could not be offered a better deal, the response from the salesman could have been more deferential, if not well mannered.  

So I wonder how long more ORANGE will thrive in this business with promoting this attitude among their employees, and if they really realise the power of word of mouth.  As a dissatisfied customer I can be more dangerous.  And as a blogger even more! I can be a negative marketeer.  It does not cost them anything.  

Companies need to realise that their relationships with direct and indirect customers matter.  They need to realise that their business models might pay in the short term, but that with attitudes like the above they are generating their own demise in the medium or long term.  And they will have to invest more to regain the trust of people.  I wonder if they consider this in their balance sheets.  

Or course among customers there is the mentality of shopping around and haggling.  I am not inventing it.  If this causes resentment among employees, they should vent it somewhere else, not with people like me.  I am not the victim, I am just part of a whole system of products and services.  I could be part of this company as a passive customer or as an active campaigner for good or bad.  

We had better be nice to each other.  

We are part of a whole system.  

We can still do business, but at least keep respect as a core value! 

Sour Orange, that is what this company is for me.  Even if they offer me a great deal for broadband or other products, I know their attitude now.