"Michael, you were so right about those Burberry velvet blazers", Lindsay said, sitting down in the break room, "If we'd gone deep on those we'd be looking at a lot of markdowns."
"I know," Michael replied, "It seems like they're just about everywhere, doesn't it?"
Michael raised an eyebrow and went on, "Speaking of Burberry...I ran into Jennifer Daily, on my lunch hour Tuesday. She was just coming out of Saks. That's always a little awkward to me; it's almost like you caught a friend having an affair or something.
"I end up standing there being all 'Oh, HI! It's fun running into you," but I'm really thinking, 'What were you doing in there!? You better just be looking at bras and pantyhose because you buy your fashions from us, Missy!' I'm always afraid I look bitter."
Lindsay laughed. "I know how you feel," she confided. "But remember almost nobody is monogamous when it comes to shopping. Come to think of it, having a good relationship with a customer is probably just as much work as having any kind of personal relationship.
"I mean, it's not personal, but you sure can't expect to get more out of the relationship than you put into it. They're only going to be as loyal to us, as we are to them."
"True," Michael agreed, "if your store is like the friend that never calls, pretty soon they'll stop calling you, right?"
"And if you do call, it can't just be to talk about yourself," Lindsay concluded. "Everybody's different, but if we want to make them feel good about spending money with us, I think we have to work really hard at finding out what they want."
"Wow, you make it sound so easy," Michael fawned, "Just one question: how do we find out what they want?"
People today won't be loyal to any retailer who doesn't make them feel valued, and make their shopping experience fun and flexible.
