A recent experience I had in Debenhams epitomised for me a number of the issues facing Retailers at the moment

I was trying to buy a beauty product for my wife via the Estee Lauder concession counter using my Debenhams store card. I thought that I had done the easy bit by successfully locating both the concession counter itself and the right product but my store card was then ruled invalid when I tried to purchase. Whilst I could have paid by another method, that was not really the point and I slipped rapidly into aggrieved shopper mode. The Estee Lauder consultant said that she could not help as she was not a Debenhams’ employee and that I would need to speak to a Debenhams’ member of staff. When I finally found one, she was most unhelpful and said that I would separately need to speak to the finance company running Debenhams’ store card which was apparently contactable through an overseas’ call centre (and no, she didn’t know the telephone number offhand!)

At this point, I gave up and swept out of the store on the way to House of Fraser (life really is too short!). As I passed the Estee Lauder concession, the consultant that I initially dealt with could see that I was not best pleased, stopped me and got me to sit down whilst she fetched the Store Manager. The Manager ascertained my problem, phoned the finance company herself and ascertained that my card had been discontinued because I had not used it for over six months (which was in fact the case). She then set up a new store card for me there and then and accompanied me back to the Estee Lauder concession to successfully complete the original purchase for my wife. The value of the transaction was a mere £15!

My experience told me a number of things about the issues and challenges currently facing UK Retailers in these straitened times and these are certainly not peculiar to Debenhams:

1. The Estee Lauder staff member was unable to deal with the problem there and then because of the rigid operational relationship between Estee Lauder and Debenhams
2. The first Debenhams member of staff that I encountered was clearly only interested in getting rid of me as quickly as possible; I put this down largely to a general shortage of store staff leading to increased pressure on those remaining
3. Learning that the finance company’s call centre was overseas was enough to fill me with foreboding (and not for racist reasons I hasten to add)
4. The deactiviation of my store card through lack of use was apparently a standard security procedure irrespective of my own personal credit-worthiness

So, poor in-store operational procedures, reducing store staff to save money, a fixation with locating call centres abroad and misguided procedures to minimise store card fraud all contributed to Debenhams almost losing a sale. Admittedly, Debenhams would only have lost £15 in revenues on this occasion but how long would it have been before I returned to the store to spend again? Can Retailers really afford to shoot themselves in the foot when sales are so hard to come by?

Ending on a positive note, it was only the actions of two of the sales staff that ensured that I didn’t leave the store immediately. It is good to know that the art of retail selling is not entirely dead anyway! However, even this has a negative aspect. Without decrying the actions of either of these individuals, both knew from the outset that the transaction was worth only £15. Doesn’t this say a lot about the difficulties currently experienced by UK Retailers that so much effort was expended (I ended up being in the Debenhams store for over an hour) for such little top line benefit?