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Are you in the market for a new car?

Good luck - you may have trouble finding a dealership wanting to sell you one.  Bear with me - this isn’t a post about cars, but about customer service.

This year, the UK’s retail motor industry welcomed, with outstretched arms, a new word into its lexicon - “scrappage”. In the middle of a thumping recession, the Government-funded scheme has helped the car business boost sales with a £2k sweetener for buyers agreeing to scrap their 10-year-old vehicle when buying a new one. Without it, the world of the motor trader in 2009 would have been a very different one.

A world without scrappage was depicted in a recent speech by Joe Greenwell, Ford’s UK chairman and president of the Society of Manufacturers and Motor Traders at its recent annual dinner. He said: “Without scrappage, this year’s total registrations would have been less than 1.7m. Against a high of nearly 2.6 million units in 2003, current expectations are for car registrations to fall to 1.8m in 2010. There is no doubt that..underlying demand remains weak.”

And this is the point. At a time like now, every customer counts.

It was Chris Brogan’s recent blog post on frustration with bricks and mortar retail that came to mind on a weekend trip to several high end car dealerships from which I came away convinced that some dealerships don’t want to sell cars.

First up - VW: we entered an empty showroom where the only person keen to talk was the receptionist. A salesman just about managed to grab some brochures but the car we wanted to see was “being used by a colleague over the weekend”. That’s fine, but did he want to arrange a viewing? No.

Next, BMW: we were sitting ducks, asking to be sold the benefits of a particular model. The salesman - not looking terribly busy - said: “I’ll get you a brochure. It’s all in there.” What about the boot space? The car battery was flat so the boot wouldn’t open. Now there was a veritable crowd of customers awaiting the grand boot opening. Eventually the lid was lifted and off the salesman skipped: “Leave it up, won’t you,” he chirped.

Lastly, Mercedes: best of the lot, but not great. We did get invited to sit down, but for a rather lacklustre chat about the car in question and promises about the great vehicles coming out of that manufacturer in the next couple of years.

For an industry facing a steep incline next year with a spluttering engine, it’s a worrying picture of customer interaction.

One man who knows a bit about car sales is one Derek Clements (disclosure: my father) who spent more than 50 years in the car business and ended his career training dealership staff in customer care. He said: “Getting new customer enquiries is expensive and dealers have to make the most of every one. It’s vital that sales staff make people truly welcome, comfortable and unthreatened before talking to them about what the customer wants or needs and matching that with the features and benefits of a car.

“In other words, make the customer feel important, listen to what they’re saying and start to build their confidence in dealing with you.”

With all this in mind, I asked Letty - a woman of advancing years and 10 years on the local Tesco checkout - what she felt customer service was all about and she said: “It’s just about being friendly. People seem so detached from each other these days and it costs nothing to smile.”

Listen to Letty - you could do much worse.

The World Wide Web has radically shaped the way we do business, in particular that of the fashion retail sector.

Estimated to be worth over £4.1bn by the end of 2009*, the sector is booming, with no self respecting high street retailer now without a transactional website. 

The savvy aren’t, however, solely using the web as a sales platform.

Responding to the rise in popularity of social media, a new culture is emerging, labelled by industry leaders as “democratic consumerism”.

Pioneering the move towards the new culture is Asda Chief Executive, Andy Bond, who recently announced plans to open up the workings of the business to scrutiny from customers in a move to build greater trust and long-term loyalty amongst shoppers. 

Among the range of initiatives to be introduced by the retailer is Asda’s new blog, http://www.aislespyblog.com/, which invites customers to participate in the buying process - voting on their favourite styles and colour ways.

Still in its infancy, the blog is already enjoying a positive response.  Speaking on it its launch Beth Somi, George Marketing and PR Manager, said: “http://www.aislespyblog.com/ is a great way for our customers to understand more about what goes on behind the scenes at Asda and to know more about our colleagues who work here.

“I enjoy talking to people about my job, so this is a great opportunity to do it while I’m at work. There is so much to talk about, we have new ranges launching in store every week so there is always something going on. The tough decision is knowing what to blog about so that I don’t bore everyone!

“I love the fact that I can ask for feedback on my blog and that the readers respond in such a positive way. It’s a great way for us to get instant ideas on our new ranges. As I speak to the teams here at George House, they are excited about what we can ask for comments on in the future.”

An example of an entirely web-based retailer epitomising democratic fashion is http://www.styleshake.com/.  Possibly one of the most ingenious fashion websites to launch in recent years, StyleShake.com puts the customer at the heart of the proposition, allowing the user to design a garment from scratch choosing fabric, colour style and trim.

The site goes against the typical nature of the fashion industry with trends that ‘trickle-down’ from the catwalk to the high street, asking the user to vote and design exactly what they want to wear.

It is also a fashion community with users rating and commenting on one another’s designs. Recent celebrity fans include Duffy and Holly Branson.

Not only good news for fashion addicts looking to create an individual look, StyleShake.com is a pretty good business model.  The retailer only produces what its users order so there is never over-supply; good for the environment and for the businesses overheads.

Chief Executive Officer of StyleShake.com, Iris Ben-David, comments: “StyleShake is all about empowering the user, providing them with the means to express themselves and celebrate their creativity. We are delighted to offer new ways of collaboration”.

The retailer’s vision is to become a leading online resource that revolutionises the way we consume fashion by making it much more personal and individual. 

A design obsessive from a tender age and regularly frustrated shopper, I personally, am delighted by what looks to be a customer-empowered future.  But what does democratic consumerism mean for the future of retail?

Its potential to impact on the overall business model is huge.  Armed with increased customer insight, the risk of costly, unpopular bulk buys will undoubtedly be lessened, reducing retailers’ need to discount and perhaps marking the beginning of the end of the January sale.  The retailer/supplier relationship will also inevitably see a change.   The potential for collections to be further tailored by store in response to regional demand an increasing reality.

Democratic consumerism, it’s an interesting one to watch, one I will certainly be following with a close eye.  

* Taken from Mintel’s Fashion Online report, August 2009

Update: More - this time from Nielsen - on how retailers can benefit from recognising and engaging with social media - or, a new phrase, Consumer Generated Media.

UK high street retail veteran, Debenhams, came over all social yesterday with its Twitter assistants “experiment”.

The idea was to ensure its staff gave “top notch service” for the launch of its new season stock by giving customers the chance to tweet their queries to @DebenhamsRetail, whereby six assistants in its Oxford Street store would spring into action, either in person or - obviously - via the Twitterverse.

Was it simply a PR gimmick, as Socially Minded questions, or a giant step forward in customer service? Why would a shopper browsing in the store tweet an assistant for help rather than just tapping one on the shoulder?

Well, the Debenhams Twitter team, clearly still buzzing from their Tweet-fest, sent me this message within minutes of being asked how it all went:

But social media, and particularly Twitter, for retailers - while no longer new - is a strategy worth looking at:

Chris Lake over at Econsultancy has taken the time to collate the “27 varieties of tweet used by retailers” (I think he should’ve found 57, just for cringe value) which demonstrate that just pumping out offers is a legitimate, but far from being the only, reason to be a retailer active on Twitter. With this Twitter “to-do” list, a retailer should never be short of something to tweet. And Lake makes the point that using Twitter for customer service is a good way of demonstrating openness and willingness to help while displaying that in an open, online forum.

Asda is one retailer that has grasped Twitter, to the point where it has different Twitter feeds for different purposes: @asda is a place for its “Rollback” offers, getting sneak previews of new TV ads and seeing retweets of media coverage and complimentary comments. @asdajobs speaks for itself, while @asdaserviceteam is monitoring Twitter for customer upset and providing a response and @GeorgePRGirl is talking up new products, picking up quirky media mentions (Allister Darling saying he preferred George suits to Armani) and bringing some personality and humour to the brand.

Clearly, Twitter is not a cure-all for retailers’ marketing communications and customer service ambitions and issues. But as part of a social media engagement programme, it is becoming another effective tool in the box.

Historically signifying good times and economic stability, this year, during one of the worst ever recessions, a new type of Baby Boom is emerging.   

No I’m not talking about an increase in the number of babies being born (although it could be suggested we’re all burying ourselves under the covers), but the down-turn defying sales in the infant sector. 

Maternity retailers Mothercare and JoJo Maman Bebe have both reported particularly strong results this year, with JoJo Maman Bebe recording a positive 11 per cent hike in like-for-like sales.  Speaking to Retail Week, the founder and managing director of the successful retailer, Laura Tenison, said: “we have never suffered from the recession; our sales have been consistently good.” 

And it’s not just the babywear sector that’s happily gurgling through the bad times but the food sector too. Research commissioned by Mintel revealed that families are set to spend £491 million on baby food this year - 50 per cent more than the amount spent in 2004. 

The staggering figure is largely driven by the organic baby food sector, accounting for one fifth of all baby food sold. The reason behind the sector’s continuing success is, I’m told, “guilt purchasing”, the title given by parents to their physical inability to buy anything less than the best for their little ones, even when money is tight. One parent told me they’d rather live on jam sandwiches than deny their child his daily helpings of organic spinach, salmon and wild risotto dinners.

Speaking to the Scotsman, Susie Willis, a former chef and mother of three who launched Plum Baby in 2006 and now has 5% of the UK baby food market, supports the theory and said: “Mums may be tightening their purse strings for the rest of the household, but baby food remains number one when it comes to giving them the best food.”

So, when we’re all looking for a way out of the recession, maybe there are worse things we could do than to duck for the covers - nine months from now and we could be contributing to a booming and blooming economic climate.

I spent an interesting evening last night at a Q&A event with River Island’s CEO Sir Richard Bradbury, organised by Manchester Fashion Network in association with Business Link. 

Having worked his way up from the shop floor of a small menswear retailer in Great Yarmouth to his current position as Chief Executive Officer at one of the UK’s leading fashion retailers, Sir Richard is certainly qualified to advise and educate on the retail industry.

Sir Richard talked very openly about his background at Burtons, his experience with the Chelsea Girl brand and his personal River Island story, before taking questions from the floor.

It was refreshing to hear, in the current climate, that it’s business as usual and the company is staying true to its customers and its own beliefs and strategy.  

While the recession is undoubtedly affecting businesses, River Island isn’t cutting back on investment, just wisely investing its money where it is likely to achieve a greater return.  

Cue less focus on traditional above-the-line advertising and more focus on attendance at events such as Graduate Fashion week; an event at which River Island has been the title sponsor for five consecutive years.  

Sir Richard understands that encouraging and investing in young talent can reap both commercial and creative rewards, and last night suggested that Britain is a nation of creatives, not ‘makers’. 

While strongly believing in nurturing Britain’s creative talent of tomorrow, online is also key for the future of River Island.

Its e-commerce site is a significant part of the business, with some of River Island’s best customers shopping online as well as in store, and the company is keen to evolve this with a new and improved site due to launch later this year.

I’ll be watching with interest to see how 2009 shapes up for River Island and despite the challenging market, expect them to continue serving up trends with the unique River Island style.

Was having an interesting chat with a couple of friends about the flurry of offers and discounts that have been flaunted by some of the high street’s perceived high end brands. We all couldn’t help wondering that, while there’s no doubt such offers have been helping people to rein in their spending, whether the brands have suffered as a result, or, if people’s perceptions of brands have changed?

There’s no denying that feeling of smug satisfaction when you manage to bag that perfect LBD or whistle n flute from your favourite top end retailer at 50% - sometimes 70% - less than it was originally being sold for, but do you ever think - as my friends and I were doing - about how much we were all being ripped off during the good ole times? Surely if a retailer can afford to drop prices so drastically in search of a sale, does it beg the question ‘how much is this really worth and how much have retailers been marking up in the past’?

Another thought that has entered my head is have people who used to shop freely without a second thought of the price tag, been put off by the barrage of offers out there or, more importantly, have their perceptions of their favourite brands changed? Does it make the affordable, throw away fashion more appealing if the more exclusive shops seem ever less so? Or do you upgrade to true investment pieces that will stand the good times and the bad?

From a PR point of view, I think brands need to remember their roots during the tough times - who are they really appealing to, where are those customers and how do brands reach them? Social media is a great way of speaking to customers directly - particularly when trust in the UK traditional media is at a low - and positive stories that communicate core values are valuable and a breath of fresh air amidst the landscape of bad headlines. Look for services/products that inspire confidence and give reassurance back to the customer and then tell your story. Focus on your original USPs in a fresh, forward-thinking way, know your strengths and trust in the reasons your customers came to you in the first place.