Lack of Customer-Centric Philosophy: Books A Million “Case Study”
Ok…stand back, this is going to break away from my norm…but I am so annoyed. So I am going to use this post to identify why I am so irritated. One brand, a single offering, confusing customer service! This is where it all began!
My father bought me a gift certificate for $25.00 to purchase a book. It was a birthday gift, since March 5th I have been trying to figure out what I am going to purchase. I get the quarterly newsletter in the mail from the Harvard Business School and noticed a book about social entrepreneurs. So, I searched through my email to find the e-certificate from my dad for this Books A Million purchase. I went to BooksAMillion.com, searched for the book and proceeded through the online process to purchase the book. I entered my credit card information as a requirement, just incase my purchase exceeded the $25.00 limit of the e-certificate.
After entering my credit card information, the online shopping cart provided a place to enter the e-certificate code. It should be….voila. Uhh…NO! The online store could not validate the e-certificate. I tried over and over again. Tried different browsers, re-entered the e-certificate code, and nothing worked. So…I thought that after teaching class in Clemson, I would stop back by Books A Million in Anderson to see if they could help.
Walked into this newly renovated location in the Anderson Mall, to seek help. I go to the front desk and ask for help. I had a feeling they were going to have to call the manager. So I waited in the front while the manager made his way to the front of the store. He introduced himself and I explained the situation. Direct quote, “I cannot help you…you need to call this 1-800 number to solve this problem.” I starred at him, perplexed. I responded in a light hearted disgust, “that stinks.” He proceeded to inform me, ” this is standard practice across the industry, all brick and mortar retail shops will not help you solve your online purchase.”
Now, I understand what he said…I think. For immediate problem…it is annoying. But from a customer point of view, how can you expect the customer to distinguish the difference between a brick and mortar store and the online property of the same branded company. Where in the fine print does it say, “Hey we are Books A Million brick and mortar and we do not associate with Books A Million online.”?
I looked at the manager and said one short sentence, “This is disappointing customer service.” I guess from a customer perspective, we want to hope that the manager might take the e-certificate and help us navigate this situation. I guess not in Anderson, SC.
So, while he was explaining his justification that it is industry standard to separate brick and mortar store from the online property…I walked away to call the 1-800 number myself. So I walked around the store, trying to navigate the call center dialing options. There was not a selection that matched this situation. After finally talking to a person that was willing to help me figure this out, the manager walked back up to me to explain, “You might want to wait to call tomorrow, the online store might be closed after 6:30pm.”
Let me explain what is so wrong with the omission by the manager. First, he led me to believe he had no dealings with the online store, which is why I must be the one to make the phone call. Hmm…then how does he make the assumption that the online call center closes at 6:30pm. He must have some prior knowledge. The other issue here, I think it was his intention to persuade me to leave the brick and mortar store to make the phone call.
As I was chatting with the lady from the call center, I looked at the manager at the brick and mortar store and said…”I have this covered, thanks for your help.” As I walked around the actual brick and mortar store, browsing while talking to the online call center…I finally resolved the issue. The book will be at my house in a few days.
So here is my problem. I guess I just made a mistake, one I will not make again. I assumed that someone that works at Books A Million at a brick and mortar store could and would be willing to help me with an online Books A Million problem. Second, I assumed that by taking the time to drive to the store to try to resolve an online problem, that this Anderson, SC store would take the time to help build a customer relationship by trying to solve this issue.
Now I understand that the online store is a “different division” of the brick and mortar stores. I mean, companies like GE have different divisions with different offerings. GE makes turbines for airplanes and also makes wind turbines. Both separate products under one brand. But, Books A Million sells books. Yes, they sell books online and in the brick and mortar store. How can you expect the customer to differentiate between the two since the brand is so closely tied with the single offering. I would expect that a person at the brick and mortar store to be able to handle that same issue as a call center. But that is not a safe assumption.
Like my dad said, making an assumption is just like making an “ass” out of you and me. I will not visit Books A Million again.
So if this is the trend, where is the customer-centric focus? If this was my grandmother, who is not a part of the digital world, how would she understand the difference? Just does not make sense to me.
I agree with your sentiments on this. I’ve had experiences where the brick and mortar were helpful in identifying how to resolve the problem which, if nothing else, made the experience less painful. That manager needs to learn a thing or two about customer service. Sure you (the manager) can’t do everything for everybody, but you could sure train your staff to know what number to call and ask if they need any assistance with making the call. I get that it’s a separate ordeal, but the service should work both ways. Shoot, the brick and mortar could have won a brick and mortar customer if they had just done the right thing. Good post.
I undersstand your irritation and can somewhat sympathize. However, the problem is, as you stated, assumptions. You assume the managers are given the training, information and resources they need to assist customers. You assume the company (any company, really) cares about the customer experience and retention. I have found that whole “the customer comes first” line most companies give is just that- a line. They feel like they deserve a pat on the back for saying “We care about our customers!”, when their actions say the opposite. And you think the customers get a bad deal, try being an associate!
As for your situation- as a brick and mortar manager, I would have called the 800 number for you. I would have worked to resolve this issue since you made the effort to come into my store. However, in only slight partial defense of the particular manager you dealt with- the stores are given a hard time for calling directly. When we call, it is logged as a “complaint” in a weekly report, even IF the issue is with the website. Our district managers review this report every week and call the store management to “coach” them for their supposed failure in customer service. When a customer calls, it is not associated with any store, it does not get logged as a complaint, and I’d bet half a week’s pay that they try to chalk it up to user error (your fault).
As for the seperate “company” part, Books-A-Million and booksamillion.com are two completely seperate companies. I agree that they shouldn’t expect customers to assume this or immediately differentiate they two. There have been many times I have had to turn a customer away who needed to return or exchange a book they purchased online because they didn’t buy it from my “company”. The reason is it’s not “Books-A-Million” money or product. They liken it to accepting a return on a book purchased at B&N or Borders, “not our product”.
I think the biggest problem here is the manager was not trained, empowered, or encouraged to help you, the customer.
One last semi-rant/observation. And this does not reflect your situation or you- Consumers are turning into spolied brats. Most want everything right now, 50% off, gift wrapped, and you better be smiling when they demand you bow down and kiss their feet. Yes we are a large national chain bookstore, but we don’t have every single book every printed in our stores. If it’s Christmas Eve, YES you might have to wait in a line. Yes, we just might be sold out of that super popular book that is on the top of every bestseller list, and God help us if it has an Oprah sticker on it. If you make minimum wage, are given a scant 12 hours a week, and a customer answers your company mandated question of “Would you like a bag?” with “Yes I want a f***ing bag”, it’s a little hard to keep that smile on your face.
I apologize for this incredibly long response/rant. However, one can hope that someone who reads will think about it the next time they go to any store and have the urge to take out their issues on a single mother trying pay the rent, or a young person trying to work their way through school.
I am not sure who you are and why you want to remain anonymous, but thanks for writing and responding. Obviously, you have passion for your job as a manager at Books A Million. This post has obviously sprung some attention from Books A Million, as it should. Many companies like Books A Million are in a tough position when trying to gain consumer confidence between two separate companies that are under one brand. This is confusing to the consumer. Regardless of your position that “Consumers are turning into spolied brats”…they do have the power…you need them to buy your products for both of your companies to survive, especially in a digital economy where I can download the book on my iPad faster than I can resolve this issue between two organizations.
So where are we left in this mess. Organizations like Books A Million will have to continue to figure out this paradigm shift…this shift in engaging consumers in both online and brick and mortar stores. Obviously, your heart is in the right place by wanting to help someone like me to navigate this terrain: how to deal with an order that seemed like a brick and mortar store could handle.
I understand your complaint about those who are employed by Books A Million, that it is not in their best interest to provide the customer service that consumers demand. Why is this an issue…because Books A Million has not empowered their employees to have a vested interest in the brand and the consumer. I am a small business owner and I break my back everyday to take care of my customer, providing services and attention outside of the scope of what they pay me to do. So how can we empower the lady at the check-out counter to feel that same way. We have to empower her that it is in her best interest to empower the customer. Many large companies were built on customer service, and in this shifting economy…we must find ways to retain those customer dollars. Bottom-line, they will go somewhere else to find their products and services.
So…where do we stand. Well…how can Books A Million survive with a lack luster customer service mentality? This may be an isolated case, but you sure as heck know it will be a long time before I walk back into that store. Why, because my confidence for that store was severely marginalized and there are plenty of other retailers willing to provide the same products and services, with a smile. Maybe we are brats, but we are the ones who have the dollars organizations like Books A Million are fighting everyday to gain in revenue and trust.
I totally agree Jimmy, the brick and mortar store had a great opportunity to engage the consumer in this situation. The problem I see here is that it is hard for that manager to see beyond his hourly wage, to have a vested interest in the future of the company. How can this be achieved? I am not sure, but these are the stores that have the best opportunity to engage their employees to have a commitment to the customer. If not…we can go download that same book on the iPad faster than it would take to talk to three people and resolve this issue online, to only receive this book three days later. Thanks for your note!
Bobby,
This is an interesting case – it illustrates how two business units (online and brick/mortar) in the same firm can be optimized for the unit but not for the enterprise experience of the customer. It’s easy enough to speculate how it comes to this state – each business unit has its own P&L, its own metrics, and ongoing challenges to manage expenses while growing revenue. They may may even see themselves as competitors of each other, rather than seeing the competition as B&N, Amazon, etc.
I recently wrote about a similar case in my own blog, BestCustomerConnection, with a posted called “Good business unit strategy; Poor customer experience. What would you do?”, which you can read at http://www.bestcustomerconnection.com/?p=811. I’d be keen to see your comments on that situation as well.
Thanks for the detailed observations of your case!
Marc
Marc….this is an interesting observation. I never even considered that both of these business (online & brick and mortar versions of B&N) could consider the other competition. This can be done in so many ways from the C-Suite all the way down to the “worker bees” inside the organization. I can see how someone in customer service can feel threatened at the brick and mortar store by the online business. It can even be a competitive advantage for the C-Suite executives to create this sense of competition between two organizations under the same brand. ~BR