Yesterday’s Success is Not Enough
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I’ve shopped at Macy’s. Not frequently but, then again, not infrequently. The few times I’ve had any problem with something I had bought, Macy’s made it an almost pleasant experience correcting the problem. But I won’t be shopping at Macy’s again. George at Fat Pitch Financial shares his experience with returning a pair of jeans at Macy’s, and their request for his social security number to go about doing that. It’s bad enough that they are asking for a social security number in the first place just to return some wrong-sized clothing. But after your refusal to provide a potential dangerous (and entirely useless to them) piece of information, repeatedly asserting that “it’s the store policy” and having to involve a manager in an everyday transaction is patently absurd.
I’ve been reading quite a bit of Seth Godin lately. In fact, I just finished his book Purple Cow (might just have to put up a review of it a little later). In it, he puts forth the idea that standard marketing just doesn’t work anymore. That you must make yourself or your product remarkable to grab the attention of today’s fickle consumer.
And Macy’s is being remarkable. Unfortunately for them, with this policy, they’re being remarkably bad. Guess what, Macy’s. The products you offer are no longer unique. They haven’t been unique for quite some time. Name brand clothes can be had just about anywhere. The experience of shopping at Macy’s is what is unique. And if this is the experience you’re handing out, I can do better elsewhere…
Tagged:
» Macy’s, customer service, social security number, SSN, purple cow, remarkable
