Retail issues
Apr. 10th, 2014 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jsburbidgeTwo independent points experienced on Saturday:
1) I went to the New Balance shoe store on Yonge Street in Toronto. New Balance makes walking shoes in my size (well, more-or-less my size: I'm actually 14A but I can wear lace-ups that are 14B if I tie them tightly; 14A is basically impossible to get these days at any affordable price point). I currently wear a pair which I picked up there several years ago.
The clerk whom I spoke to and specified size first said "you mean regular width" and had to be corrected (and shown that the shoes were, indeed, documented to be made in my size). He then informed me, after several minutes at the terminal, that anything in my size would be a special order and would take up to four weeks (21 working days = 3 1/2 weeks, but for all practical purposes four weeks for a store I'm unlikely to have the leisure to get to during the week).
Now there are two problems with this.
There are only a limited number of styles in outsizes, and only a limited number of outsizes. By my calculations they could keep on hand a couple of instances of each in a space no bigger than a refrigerator. The ability to advertise being able to support outsizes, in a market the size of Toronto, would encourage turnover at a reasonable rate, even if not that of more common sizes. (Harry Young does it.)
Alternatively, supporting special orders in, say, 48 hours would at least show some attention to the retail context.
My reaction was simply to consider this unacceptable. Lost purchase. I'll either order from Winnipeg or go to Harry Young (which has different makes).
2) Later on the same day, I was in a Vintages section at the LCBO. They had one of their little tags up citing a Wine Spectator "Outstanding Value" comment regarding Porcupine Ridge 2012 Syrah (South Aftrica).
I picked up a bottle. It was 2013. Most of the bottles were 2013.
I did find a 2012 bottle, which I purchased.
Now, 2012 is considered a really good vintage in South Africa. 2013 looks promising, but has not received the same reviews. In addition, it's a year younger, and with a Syrah, even a year makes a big difference. (And a 2012, to be drinkable, should be decanted or laid down). Put bluntly, the 2012 and 2013 vintages are not the same product.
Normally, this might not be a big issue: if the label on the rack just says "Porcupine Ridge Syrah" then you take what you get. But if you choose to post a promotional flag specifically related to the 2012 vintage above a rack which is almost entirely the 2013 vintage, that's not only sloppy, it's dishonest. (And I do mean dishonest, even if there's no intent: this is analogous to "passing off", which is strict liability offence. (It isn't legal passing off, since that applies to selling one producer's product under another producer's name -- the equivalent of filling Chateau Petrus bottles with cheap Bordeaux; but it's still representing one thing as something it's not.)
There was no point in complaining to the clerk at the register. If I go in again and find the same flag still there, with the wrong vintage underneath, I may draw it to someone's attention.
1) I went to the New Balance shoe store on Yonge Street in Toronto. New Balance makes walking shoes in my size (well, more-or-less my size: I'm actually 14A but I can wear lace-ups that are 14B if I tie them tightly; 14A is basically impossible to get these days at any affordable price point). I currently wear a pair which I picked up there several years ago.
The clerk whom I spoke to and specified size first said "you mean regular width" and had to be corrected (and shown that the shoes were, indeed, documented to be made in my size). He then informed me, after several minutes at the terminal, that anything in my size would be a special order and would take up to four weeks (21 working days = 3 1/2 weeks, but for all practical purposes four weeks for a store I'm unlikely to have the leisure to get to during the week).
Now there are two problems with this.
- Part of what is built into the price of a pair of shoes at a shoe store is the service one gets typically from the staff -- trying on several models, testing fit, etc. Offering shoes with no service beyond placing a special order and not offering a significant discount is not a good idea.
- Four weeks on a special order might have been acceptable two decades ago. Today I can go onto the internet and order the same shoes at the same price or better, to be delivered straight to my house (saving the inconvenience of going to the store again), and probably in less time. Sure I don't get personal service but (see 1, above) I'm not going to get that anyway. This is negative utility provided by the store.
There are only a limited number of styles in outsizes, and only a limited number of outsizes. By my calculations they could keep on hand a couple of instances of each in a space no bigger than a refrigerator. The ability to advertise being able to support outsizes, in a market the size of Toronto, would encourage turnover at a reasonable rate, even if not that of more common sizes. (Harry Young does it.)
Alternatively, supporting special orders in, say, 48 hours would at least show some attention to the retail context.
My reaction was simply to consider this unacceptable. Lost purchase. I'll either order from Winnipeg or go to Harry Young (which has different makes).
2) Later on the same day, I was in a Vintages section at the LCBO. They had one of their little tags up citing a Wine Spectator "Outstanding Value" comment regarding Porcupine Ridge 2012 Syrah (South Aftrica).
I picked up a bottle. It was 2013. Most of the bottles were 2013.
I did find a 2012 bottle, which I purchased.
Now, 2012 is considered a really good vintage in South Africa. 2013 looks promising, but has not received the same reviews. In addition, it's a year younger, and with a Syrah, even a year makes a big difference. (And a 2012, to be drinkable, should be decanted or laid down). Put bluntly, the 2012 and 2013 vintages are not the same product.
Normally, this might not be a big issue: if the label on the rack just says "Porcupine Ridge Syrah" then you take what you get. But if you choose to post a promotional flag specifically related to the 2012 vintage above a rack which is almost entirely the 2013 vintage, that's not only sloppy, it's dishonest. (And I do mean dishonest, even if there's no intent: this is analogous to "passing off", which is strict liability offence. (It isn't legal passing off, since that applies to selling one producer's product under another producer's name -- the equivalent of filling Chateau Petrus bottles with cheap Bordeaux; but it's still representing one thing as something it's not.)
There was no point in complaining to the clerk at the register. If I go in again and find the same flag still there, with the wrong vintage underneath, I may draw it to someone's attention.
