In a first of its kind retail benchmark study, ICC/Decision Services visited over 50 retailers across the categories of apparel, department store, electronics, home improvement, toy, specialty and sporting goods to measure their readiness for the holiday season. From October 26 through November 18, 2010, ICC/Decision Services conducted 1621 nationwide store visits to assess sales helpfulness and employee service. The National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasts a 2010 holiday sales increase of 2.3 percent. But, argues David Rich, President & CEO of ICC/Decision Services, “retailers are still leaving millions on the table.”

In areas such as greeting and thanking customers, and cleanliness, for instance, the majority of retailers scored well, which indicates store associates are focusing on the customer experience. However, in other key areas such as explaining promotions, suggesting additional items, and determining customer needs, many retailers are underperforming. For instance, suggestive selling occurred only 43.7% of the time on average across all 1621 store visits. “Associates may be handling customers graciously,” says Rich, “but they are not converting that relationship into sales.”

The top performing retailer was Yankee Candle, which earned an overall score of 92.8 out of 100, achieving a selling score of 87.8 and a service score of 97.8. Lowest performing segments of the marketplace included sporting goods, department stores and toy departments. Retailers visited included: Aeropostale (ARO), Ann Taylor (ANN), Best Buy (BBY), Build-A-Bear (BBW), Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS), Game Stop (GME), Gap (GPS), J. Crew (JCG), Kohl’s (KSS), Macy’s (M), Nordstrom (JWN), Office Depot (ODP), Sears (SHLD), TJ Maxx (TJX), Target (TGT), Toys “R” Us (TOY), and more.

For a summary of the “Retailer Behavioral Outlook for 2010 Holiday Season” or go to this link: http://www.iccds.com/benchmarks

About ICC/Decision Services:

ICC/Decision Services was founded in 1979 to design and execute Customer Experience Management programs. ICC/Decision Services offers a wide range of qualitative and quantitative business tools, including mystery shopping, store audits, customer feedback and employee satisfaction surveys. Clients include Coach, 7-11, L.L. Bean, CVS, Foot Locker, Walmart and others. The company is headquartered at 561 7th Avenue New York, NY 10018, U.S.A. Phone: (800) 444-1717. E-mail: info@iccds.com.

With the season that for many retailers is ‘make-or-break’ rapidly approaching, many retailers are trying fresh approaches. Mobile shopping apps are gaining popularity, allowing retailers to send offers directly to shoppers’ phones with the aim of reaching those buyers when they’re within a short walk or drive of the stores.

About 33 percent of retailers plan to have “location-based marketing” technology in place by year’s end, up from almost nothing a year ago, according to the National Retail Federation.

Two months ago, The Gap offered coupon for a 24-hour window through the popular site groupon.com. Shoppers could buy half-price shopping vouchers for everything from jeans to trendy messenger bags.

“At one point more than 1,200 people a minute were snaring the coupons, so many that the site that arranged the “flash” sale had to redirect some shoppers and tell them to come back later. But by day’s end, almost 450,000 potential customers had bought into the deal” reports Jen Wieczner in SmartMoney Magazine.

That’s tantamount to having an entire city line up to make purchases at your store and makes understanding and embracing the new technology well worth the time and effort.

Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst with the NPD Group, told msnbc.com, “The consumer is not in any rush.”

An earnings call from Walmart indicated more shoppers are making their school supply purchases closer to their schools’ start dates. The National Retail Federation also predicted a quarter of school shoppers won’t begin their back-to-school shopping until one or two weeks before school begins. In some cases, families may even put the shopping off until later in the fall after seeing what’s in style and what students really need.

Still, the National Retail Federation predicts American families will eventually spend more on back-to-school supplies and clothes than last year. Back-to-college spending should remain about the same.

Meanwhile, retailers are offering deals for the customers now. Abercrombie & Fitch’s jeans are currently 40 percent off, Target is offering free shipping on $50 online purchases and Amazon.com has bargains on coffee makers, printers, microwaves and textbooks for college students.

Christina Veiders, Managing Editor of Supermarket News, writes how retailers, realizing that the old idea still has some life, are using gift cards as not only a sensible gift idea, but also as a means of sales promotion. The technology behind gift cards takes an old idea, the gift certificate, and gives it new life because they are cheaper to produce, easier to track and provide a long lasting branding opportunity. Consumers love the convenience.

After taking a dip last year because of retail bankruptcies, gift cards are again experiencing growth. After market stabilization and some needed legislation, retailers are taking advantage of the trend for promotional purposes. Some grocery chains are offering savings on the grocery bill for the purchase of a certain value card. This makes a good tie-in to their loyalty card programs. Others are offering fuel discounts or tying using the cards as an incentive to buy certain items.

There are very few ideas in the business world that are truly win-win. For enhancing the customer experience and proving effective and efficient for retailers, the gift card seems to hit this lofty goal.

A story in the Boston Globe documented some unique approaches. Best Buy offered a limousine ride, special seating outside the store prior to opening, a private shopping tour before opening and a $1,000 gift card. All of this was for winning an essay contest.

The early results of Black Friday show that deep discounting isn’t enough to coax consumers. It also takes an equal amount of clever promotions and some good old-fashioned customer service to close the deal. According to one retail analyst, “The combination of value and service will be the great differentiator,” According to the National Retail Federation, sales for November and December are expected to decline 1 percent.

Some other examples of VIP treatment are free cookies, holiday tote bags, gift cards, subscriptions, limousine rides, wardrobe consultations, shopping butlers, gift-wrapping assistants, video cameras and celebrity wake-up calls. Most of these special offers and VIP contest were advertised via social networking outlets like Facebook and Twitter.

The clothing store is concerned about individuals purchasing large amounts of merchandise for resale. The electronics division of the department store won’t take back anything electroinc that was purchased more than six months ago. On the surface, these policies don’t seem overly unfiar. But when store policies violate everything that seems right and fair to the customer, who’s wrong? Is it the store, for setting up seemingly inflexible, stringent policies or is it the customer for having unreasonable expectations? Complaints like these are at the core of the customer experience, and stores who make it exceedingly difficult for their customers to return unwanted items are losing those customers.

Janet Rubel, attorney and author of 101+ Complaint Letters That Get Results, places the responsibility on the customer, stating, “The most common mistake people make is not complaining to the right place and in the right manner.”

The National Retail Federation’s Dan Butler says, “”¦most retailers do everything they can to satisfy customers and typically assume the consumer is right. “Most policies are very, very liberal, but with electronics they are more stringent because it’s so competitive and most of the retailers take a loss.”
So how can the customer get what they want when faced with an inflexible policy and an equally inflexible store associate? Experts recommend fighting for your rights in a professional manner. It’s also important to understand that the typical store employee is probably more concerned with breaking a store policy and risking his or her job than with satisfying the customer. They simply do not have the power or permission to do what you’re asking.

Ron Burley, author of Unscrewed: The Consumer’s Guide to Getting What You Paid For, says, “[Customers] need to find someone within the corporation who realizes the intrinsic value of happy customers. People in the sales department will answer the phone quickly and are trained to create happy customers, not push you away. “For large purchases where a good deal of money is at stake, Burley suggests another creative strategy— buy 10 shares of stock in the company and they’ll likely bend over backwards to help out one of their investors.

For most consumers, though, the first line of defense when dissastisfied is to ask to speak to the manager. They usually have the power to break away from a policy, and since they are concerned with customer retention, most managers will do what they can to help you walk out of the store satisfied.

Wal-Mart continues to heavily dominate the list with an 11.7% increase from 2005 to $348.65 billion in 2006. Home Depot and Kroger are 2nd and 3rd and, although both companies saw good increases, both are surrounded by talks of changes or takeovers of late. Costco and Target hang on to spots #4 and #5, with both giants sweating it out to reinvent themselves to ensure future appeal. Bringing up the rear are Sears, Walgreens and CVS, Loew’s and Safeway at number ten.
SAP America, who sponsored STORES Top 100 List, recognizes the importance of growth and innovation to retail. Senior VP and General Manager Jim Mattecheck stated, “”Successful companies continuously find ways to offer a differentiated shopping experience that inspires customers to shop with that retailer again and again. SAP has a proven track record of helping retailers achieve their goals. In fact, more than 4,300 retailers worldwide are SAP customers.”

This year’s list included restaurants for the first time, including McDonald’s (at #16), Yum! Brands (at #35), Starbucks (at #42), Darden Restaurants (at #53), Brinker International (at #73), and Outback Steakhouse (at #80). STORES’ Reda commented that while “consumers may have changed, their needs have not. Americans still have to put dinner on the table every night, but now they are looking to restaurants to fill a larger portion of that need rather than relying exclusively on traditional supermarkets. Successful restaurants understand how to cater to today’s consumers, and there are some ideas they’re trying that traditional retailers may want to borrow.”