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’Tis the Season When Some Sellers Won’t Sell

Insight #56

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Once upon a time... Actually, this is a true story as then reported in the news. A visitor to London in December of a certain year spent hours looking for the latest must-have Santa toy for his son in Africa. The desired toy was not to be found at any store. But the determined father stumbled upon an out of the way store where, oh happiness, one toy remained in stock.

And that was the problem. The shop owner refused to sell the toy because, as he explained, if he sold it he would have none left to sell.

Once upon not so long ago, my wife filled her shopping basket with as many of the same item as would fit in the basket. When the shop owner saw how many were in the basket, she objected. "You can't do that. I have regulars who might come in for those."

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Now, as I understand retail, being sold out could be a case of poor planning or good product selection. Either way, you, the merchant, should not blame customers for doing their job. Their job is to buy your product.

Your job is to sell your product to the customer standing in front of you, not to protect the customer who might, maybe, one day decide to visit your store.

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There are merchants who understand this. Like this store manager, who recently earned my respect. My wife had sent me out in the cold to buy three bottles of milk. Not wishing to fight festive shoppers, I went to an out of the way store. The store only had four bottles, so I politely warned the store manager that she had only one bottle left. Her response? "Thank you for buying all this milk."

Now I wonder. Do store managers understand the job better than do store owners?

Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.

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Quote of the Moment:

“A sale in hand is worth two or more on the shelf.” The Chief Nonsense Officer.

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