Certainly, in tougher economic times, there is something to be said about maintaining low costs and being more price-conscious while shopping for common household goods, such as groceries—but when does long-term brand loyalty become about more than how much people are willing to pay for something?For instance—I happened upon a new Wal-Mart advertisement on television the other evening that focuses, of course, on their ‘low prices’ positioning. In this ad, Wal-Mart advertises that the average family that spends $100 per week in groceries can save an average of $55 per month by shopping at Wal-Mart. And I said to myself (out loud) “so what?”
Don’t get me wrong, $55 is a significant monetary savings, and I surely do not mean to lessen the importance—especially considering the frequency of everyday purchases the typical American family makes. However (and this is certainly me speaking from personal experience) the lack of customer attention and low-quality service that I have encountered during my visits to the retail super giant have caused me to significantly pull the reigns on my spending with them and in fact, change my shopping habits alltogether. And I mean no harm in singling out Wal-Mart for this discussion, as my shopping habits have changed at a number of stores due to the same recurring issues.
In a recently published research report called “Customer Service Trumps Price,” nearly 4,600 US consumers were asked how they choose the companies they do business with across 12 industries. Specifically, consumers were asked the importance of two criteria: good customer service and low prices. Below are some of the findings after analyzing the data across five generations of consumers:
- Across all 12 industries, customer service was listed more frequently than low prices as being important
- Low prices was most important for retailers, credit card providers and airlines, where it was selected by 78%, 75%, and 75% of the respondents respectively
- Younger Boomers (43 to 52 years-old) most frequently viewed low prices as being important while Gen Y’ers (18-28 year-olds) least frequently viewed customer service as being important
(Temkin, 2009)
However, what we [as consumers] say and what we do are seemingly two very different things.
Are we willing to sacrifice quality for cost? Do we actually shop at places like Wal-Mart because we receive better savings and good deals, or because we are devoted to the brand and realize the soft benefits we receive from being loyal?
And in fact, could our sacrifice and acceptance of mediocrity actually be the contributing factor that perpetuates the cycle of poor service and a less than acceptable customer experience?
Thoughts?
Reference:
Temkin, Bruce (2009, May 17). Customer Service Trumps Price. Retrieved on October 21, 2009 from website: http://experiencematters.wordpress.com/2009/05/17/customer-service-trumps-price/
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