I live in Scottsdale, Arizona where we have two big box retailers, Costco and Sam's, only about 1,000 feet apart. Add to that a Walmart and a Target all within a half-mile as the crows fly and you have a buyer's market when it comes to discount retailing.
Ironically, of the four, the Sam's Club is the distant laggard. It would appear that the Costco, which carries virtually the same inventory, does about ten-fold the business. My preference is Costco but I keep my membership at Sam's when I want to make a quick purchase as I can count on their store being mostly devoid of customers.
So why does one store thrive and another falter in the same geographic area with similar offerings and prices? From my experience, it is a collection of Tuned Out attitudes in management at Sam's. There have been numerous times that I have filled my cart, rolled up to check out, and found long lines at the cashier stands. With well over a dozen check-out stands, management rarely staffs with more than two cashiers. Instead of waiting 10 minutes to check out, I just leave the cart at the front of the store, mention my disgust to the supervisor, and walk out. I figure if they have to replace my items on the shelves, they will get the message.
They haven't so far. In fact, in one incident, the supervisor argued with me that their cashiers were "busy doing other things."
So yesterday, they actually had an open cashier and I was being rung up in no time. But before I could pay, the cashier stopped and asked if I wanted to upgrade my membership. I asked, "What is that going to do for me?"
She replied, "Well it normally is $100 but we can pro-rate it for the year and it will only be $68." As I observed the line of customers waiting to checkout behind me begin to swell, I asked, "Well that doesn't solve any problems for me; why should I give you even $68?" I won't bore you with the entire list of meaningless benefits that she stumbled through including "Discount roadside assistance" but suffice it to say that I didn't buy the upgrade. I don't know if anyone abandoned their cart as this sales pitch transpired but I'm sure I would have.
Not only was there no compelling problem solved by their offering, but they were selling in a stressful scenario and at the expense of other clients by a "salesperson" not prepared to communicate with me. If they had asked, I would have suggested that they set up a stand as you enter the store, staffed with someone who can relate what the upgrade will do for me, and allow me to ask questions at my leisure. But knowing Sam's, they'd take a cashier off duty to "man the booth."
