Comments on: Stores aren’t for selling, they are for delighting your customers

By: lovesapart

lovesapart — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 21:24:32 +0000

I think the older way of thinking is what drags down otherwise good stores like Best Buy. If they approached their store from the stand point of “lets make everyone want to come here to look and smile” they’d have a better time. Better yet, have an exclusive BB website to buy the things in stores with a discount if you went to the store. Make it small, make it flashy, get people in and change minds- not necessarily get dollars. Blankenship has fundamental marketing sales ideas that blow away years of accumulated assumptions and bad practices. Just like stores need new managers once in a while to shake things up, the industry need people like him to change things.

By: toddrlockwood

toddrlockwood — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:36:37 +0000

Apple sells a complex line of products, with some variations not carried in their stores. I’ll visit our local Apple store to see a new product, such as a new MacBook Pro. Then I’ll go online and order it from Apple’s web site. Invariably, I’ll discover product options online that were not mentioned in the store display.

By: dsm363

dsm363 — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 01:45:26 +0000

Yes. This is obviously made up. There is no way you waited 5 years to get your Roadster (which I doubt you even own).

By: geoffreyigharo

geoffreyigharo — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 09:56:24 +0000

You’re over-simplifying. Apple stores sell their….own brand. And a very high-priced own brand with fairly rigorous devices for making sure that any resellers’ discounting practices do not cut into Apple’s wholesale take.

You cant make an analogy from this to 3rd party stores such as dept stores, best Buy etc, which all rely on their people’s brands that can be found anywhere and everywhere. In fact its intellectually dishonest to make that analogy.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 07:33:38 +0000

I’m calling BS on this comment. The facts don’t add up.

By: David M.

David M. — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 21:51:46 +0000

Denise: How did you wait 5 years for your Roadster? I thought orders started in 2006 and they started delivering in mid 2008? Have you called Tesla service?

By: Morten

Morten — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 21:40:13 +0000

Are you stupid ? Go too your local workshop too fix that !

By: Denise Cole

Denise Cole — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 20:37:29 +0000

Blah blah blah…..How about getting a Tesla “store” open in Atlanta Mr. Blankenship….I have had a constant problem with my right front tire in my BRAND NEW 5 YEAR WAIT LISTED ROADSTER and now I have to wait another few weeks to get my tires balanced under warranty. I do not care what you store looks like, I just want my expensive ass car performing well when I drive it!!!! Denise Cole, Alpharetta GA!!!!

By: Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 10:52:47 +0000

Brilliant take. We stop by the Apple store when we’re nearby just because we enjoy interacting with the staff and seeing the latest things, even if we don’t buy. Delight is a brilliant strategy.

By: Rich

Rich — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 01:47:50 +0000

Apple sells products on line *and* in retail stores, and yet their retail stores are crowded. That shows that the brick-and-mortar stores don’t have to be killed by online sales, if the the brick-and-mortar stores are willing to make whatever changes they need to make. But if they moan about “showrooming,” or allow landlords to block their plans, or get stuck in traditional ways of thinking, then there’s a good chance the stores’ business will decline.