Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
A couple of decades ago, I worked at a well-known department store which, while not super high end, was considered a classy place to shop up until then. Gradually, little changes started taking place that eroded customer service. Such as
1. Eliminating “The Back” by cramming every piece of merchandise onto the selling floor, rather than having a few of each item out, with sales staff replenishing as needed. Not only did that make racks cluttered, difficult to shop through, and difficult for the staff to keep organized, it eliminated that extra bit of service that came from a sales person offering to check “The Back” for you; instead you’d just be told “Everything we have is out on the [bloated, disorganized] racks.”
2. Instituting centralized cash wraps in the aisle, with all of the sales people corralled into them, and essentially becoming cashiers, leaving virtually no one on the selling floor to ask for help or be approached by and offered assistance. The older shoppers would be scandalized at the thought of having to purchase their “unmentionables” right in the middle of the store, rather than at a small cash wrap tucked discretely in the back corner.
3. The elimination of niche product training (which coincided with #2). When I first started working there, departments were broken down by brands or designer labels , and each had a sales person who was trained as a selling specialist for that brand/label. The priority shifted to be less about the customer’s experience, so much so that, by the end of my time there, training was solely focused on operating a cash register and up-selling credit, loyalty cards, and gift cards. Knowledge of the merchandise, the ability to provide assistance on the selling floor, and just plain old giving a damn about personalized service went by the wayside. Can’t even really blame the floor employees much for that, when they were just as much the victims of poor management and chronic understaffing as the customers.
4. The elimination of fitting room attendants, which had already shifted from being dedicated customer service reps, to a means of loss prevention. It really sends a poor message to customers when the fitting room attendant is placed in an adversarial position, rather providing actual customer service.
Mind you, this was before online shopping really took off; Amazon was just barely in its seedling stage. Brick and mortar stores as a whole were becoming lousy places to do business; maybe not so much boutiques and small mom & pop shops, but department stores in particular were on the decline. All online retailers did was give customers a convenient alternative to what brick and mortar stores allowed themselves to devolve into. I’m not convinced at tax would be enough to undo that, especially if people are already willing to pay for shipping and exercise the delayed gratification of waiting to receive their purchases.
I will let my accountant know that recent purchase I made on the internet of cat food, and had a line saying sales tax that it actually is a "use" tax not a sales tax.
that would be incorrect, if the seller collects it, it's a sales tax, if the seller does not collect it, the buyer is supposed to self-assess use tax on the purchase.
A couple of decades ago, I worked at a well-known department store which, while not super high end, was considered a classy place to shop up until then. Gradually, little changes started taking place that eroded customer service. Such as
1. Eliminating “The Back” by cramming every piece of merchandise onto the selling floor, [...]
2. Instituting centralized cash wraps in the aisle, [...]
Mind you, this was before online shopping really took off; Amazon was just barely in its seedling stage. Brick and mortar stores as a whole were becoming lousy places to do business; maybe not so much boutiques and small mom & pop shops, but department stores in particular were on the decline. All online retailers did was give customers a convenient alternative to what brick and mortar stores allowed themselves to devolve into. I’m not convinced at tax would be enough to undo that, especially if people are already willing to pay for shipping and exercise the delayed gratification of waiting to receive their purchases.
I think every industry went through this the last 20 years, just terrible management with poor choices funneling more money to the top and letting things go basically. Driven by lots of MBA not thinking about the product, services or customer service. So good points. I don't have an answer on that.
In my area I drive on one road that has lots of restaurants, a mall, and multiple stores and so on. I can't see in the mall so no idea what is going on. Along the road where I see resturants all had signs saying they will re-open soon. Now all the ones that are singular restaurant (mom and pop) have a "for lease" sign. The restaurant groups, ones with some backing perhaps a small local chain is still saying they are at it and will open soon. And of course the big restaurant chains are still at it. Covid has so far killed the small business in retail/restaurants in what I observe. I hope something survives, or we will be ordering 100% of everything from the megacorporation Buy-N-Large (BnL) (Wall-E movie if you can't remember).
that would be incorrect, if the seller collects it, it's a sales tax, if the seller does not collect it, the buyer is supposed to self-assess use tax on the purchase.
I will put my accountant in touch with you on that.
Thanks all. Of course I am not an accountant or legal tax expert (laws do change of course when there are previous things thought ok but turn out to favor too much of one thing espcially like today). I have no connection in any way to any retailer of any kind either, but interesting to learn most favor letting anything brick and mortar just go ahead and die. Just all I was kind of asking if I had to boil it down. Maybe some deserve to die, who knows. Kind of surprising most favor complete death of stores but it could happen in pretty big ways though as mentioned mostly I see the death of mom and pop so far, but it is starting there and going to boil upwards from here if I had to guess. We will see what happens. I feel real bad for the few stores and restaurants I see permanently closed already, TBD what we see from here on. On we go to all things bought from megacorporation Buy-N-Large perhaps (Wall-E movie if you can't remember) .
Every legitimate online site I visit charges taxes. It based on where it ships to. I neither thwart that tax or consider it a joy to pay. Luckily my state rules are great on no tax for clothing or foods.
I no longer patronize a place simply because they are local or small business. It's often based on my monetary budget. And so few locally respect that ITS MY MONEY. My choice.
Absolutely do visit lumber yards local and vintage shops. Those are unique needs.
If this topic is about e commerce not being charged or burdened with business taxes I beg to differ. They still are required in the state they are registered to produce profits/loss .
Every legitimate online site I visit charges taxes. It based on where it ships to. I neither thwart that tax or consider it a joy to pay. Luckily my state rules are great on no tax for clothing or foods.
I no longer patronize a place simply because they are local or small business. It's often based on my monetary budget. And so few locally respect that ITS MY MONEY. My choice.
Absolutely do visit lumber yards local and vintage shops. Those are unique needs.
If this topic is about e commerce not being charged or burdened with business taxes I beg to differ. They still are required in the state they are registered to produce profits/loss .
Buying local, before it went mainstream, once only meant that products were made locally to help the environment and against slave labor. A lot of people misunderstood the idea and believe it's only about buying from an independent business regardless of how and where products are sourced. This is not always the case, but I see it a lot. If a product is the same regardless the store I will do bargain hunting. I'm not always wanting it willing to make a values statement with my consumer choices.
Thanks all. Of course I am not an accountant or legal tax expert (laws do change of course when there are previous things thought ok but turn out to favor too much of one thing espcially like today). I have no connection in any way to any retailer of any kind either, but interesting to learn most favor letting anything brick and mortar just go ahead and die. Just all I was kind of asking if I had to boil it down. Maybe some deserve to die, who knows. Kind of surprising most favor complete death of stores but it could happen in pretty big ways though as mentioned mostly I see the death of mom and pop so far, but it is starting there and going to boil upwards from here if I had to guess. We will see what happens. I feel real bad for the few stores and restaurants I see permanently closed already, TBD what we see from here on. On we go to all things bought from megacorporation Buy-N-Large perhaps (Wall-E movie if you can't remember) .
Businesses need to adapt or die period.
Nobody is owed a successful business.
If in 2020 you're still doing business like it's 1980 you're probably going to crash and burn.
I don't feel bad for retail stores than can't hack it.
If the internet is beating you on price and you're too stupid to provide excellent customer service you get what you deserve
I do feel bad for resteraunts and travel related business right now as there is no way they could have forseen something like this ruining them.But if this virus persists they're really going to have to adapt long term
Retail has had 2 decades to properly adapt to the internet world.
If someone has a retail store and still can't run it right that's their fault
If I buy something online, it's usually due less to price (unless the price is still much cheaper even after shipping) than the fact that I can't get what I want from a brick-and-mortar store. I far prefer to shop in person-- to see/touch what I'm buying and make sure it's what I want, to get it immediately, to not pay for shipping-- and will do so as much as possible, but sometimes that's not possible and I have no choice but to turn to the internet because the physical stores literally do not have what I want to buy.
It's especially annoying when brick-and-mortar stores put more and more of their inventory online only. If I have to buy it online, and pay shipping and wait to get it, anyway, why would I show any loyalty to a brick-and-mortar store over Amazon or something? The thing the "real" stores have over the virtual ones is that their stuff is available to me, today, in person.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133
Always baffled me how internet retailer is able to undercut brick and mortar. Brick and mortar no pay for delivery to consumer. E-commerce need to pay for delivery to each consumer. Delivery for single items has to be expensive unless you have lots of deliveries on route. But that can only happen once everyone starts ordering from single vendor.
But the customer usually pays the shipping, so it doesn't matter to the retailer.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
