T. J. Maxx and a Bad User Experience
The other night, my wife and I were shopping at T. J. Maxx in Rogers, Arkansas. She was looking at purses. I was counting tiles on the floor. We meandered over to the perfume shelf. Mind you, we’ve spent plenty of money at T. J. Maxx over the last several years.
A box was open, so Angie pulled out the bottle and smelled the perfume. The lady behind the jewelry counter got rather upset and scolded my wife for opening the box. I don’t like being scolded, but I really don’t like my wife being scolded. The whole experience ate at me all the way home. As I’ve reflected on the moment, I think it represents a pretty bad approach to customer relations. Here are some reasons why…
- If a customer is scolded, it had better be important – they’re leaving!
- You can’t be expected to buy what you can’t test, especially with perfume.
- You can’t shame a customer and expect loyalty.
- If you’re going to make such requests of your customers, do it with a smile – this lady didn’t.
Here’s the bottom line – preventing the opening of the $20 bottle of perfume probably cost T. J. Maxx a lot more in future sales. Think, people. Business rule #1 – the customer is not the enemy!
I like that “Think People”. If we all did that instead of “Think Self” or “Think Store” when dealing with customers and clients we could see, I believe, higher customer/client satisfaction.
Thanks for this wonderful example.
First of all, I salute you for being a loyal shopping buddy to your wife, I wish my husband can be one. Second, I just got back from TJ Maxx at our area in Denver, and I just open almost all the perfume that I wanted to smell, and third, the sales associate that scolded your wife should be reported to her superior for being rude to customer. This is a separate incident, I had fun surveying and opening perfume box at TJ Maxx, without any disturbance from sales associate. Dont stop from going there. Thanks!