Lee Peterson

FDBuyer: Clubbing The Clubs

July 13, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
For supermarkets getting clubbed by club stores and losing share, experts advise grocers to focus on selection, convenience and quality. And -- perhaps most important -- be sure to stand for something. How should supermarkets position themselves to face competition from club stores?      [more...]

As we've seen from the likes of Costco, sometimes even selection won't help you when you compete against them. The only answer, it seems to us, is Customer Experience. Yes, that semi nebulous term that everyone's bantering around is THE critical element in terms of competing against the boxes/clubs.

Why? Because they don't have one. It's a "non-experience". You serve yourself, you almost check yourself out and you walk a mile to your car. I mean, it's a warehouse! It really is!

Therefore, your customer experience needs to be about the opposite of that: service, comfort, speed, warmth, fast response ... valet parking?? Think of the things they're not and be that. As Sam Walton himself once said, "It's easy to compete with us. Just do what we don't do." Right!