Well for some reason when I filled out the online registration for my Petsmart rebate in August there was never doubt that I wouldn’t receive it.

Sixty days later, it showed up with a nice note thanking me for my business. I can’t wait to go back into the store and have another great experience.

Petsmart - thanks for doing it right!

As we are in the research industry and many of us do reseach on customer sat / experience measurement, we have all seen those companies who conduct customer research and then do absolutely nothing with the results! Of course, many of these companies end up losing market share or going out of business / are bought by competitors because of the decreased cash flow due to customers attrition. We all know why they do the research - someone at the top thinks its a good idea or a research dept head needs to do it so he can say he has it, but operationally, they are not in a position or don’t want to put themselves in a position to do anything with it. I guess that is one of the main reasons we, as a society, are so impressed when we do get good service. . .it has become a rarity!

As far as Ravi’s comment, I find this idea very interesting. I guess if you are someone who has very little funds and the products are truly cheap, it may be appealing. . . maybe you don’t expect as much service so long as you get a low price. However, if you are someone with more disposable income and value your time above saving a few bucks, maybe you would prefer to get in and out quickly.

I do not go to some discount stores because the lines are way too long. I’d rather pay a bit more and wait less, as I feel my time is more valuable than what I could save by going to another, less customer friendly store. So, I suppose the strategy Ravi described could make sense and probably does work if this retailer is growing, but I’m sure it alienates certain types of customers. I’d say it is evil. . .seems as if the stategy is to on prey people’s desire to buy cheap stuff they don’t need! (the yard sale phenomenon!)

I think it would be very bad if all retailers went to this type of model. It reminds me a bit of the tactics the airlines have taken to stay competitive and reduce their expenses. We used to have low cost airlines (like Southwest) that didn’t offer the meals like the full-service airlines did and were able to fly cheaply and be very profitable. Slowly, the full service airlines have been cutting back on their “frills”. American went from hot meals, to the Bistro bag, to buy on board. Of course, our airfare didn’t get any cheaper, but flyers don’t have much of a choice since there really are no other alternatives- all the airlines have done the same thing. I am now annoyed if I can’t do buy on board (flying a different airline) and I’m hungry! Our service expectations change and we adapt, and if we have no other alternatives, what can we do as consumers? If we have to fly, we have to take one of the airlines that no longer offers the service they used to. Let’s hope other discount retailers don’t follow suit with this one. . .otherwise, we will all be mindlessly wandering around in stores frustrated!

Wanted to share an interesting theory someone told me the other day. She claimed to work for a vendor that helped design this strategy, so I believed her. Poor customer service is a well thought out and deliberate business strategy at one of the big EDLP stores. In general, customers do recognize that they are paying for all the employees in the store, so having fewer employees reinforces the idea of the company as the lowest cost provider. Secondly, not having anyone to guide you to the exact product you want forces you to roam the aisles where you may see other items that you suddenly realize you need, want or simply can’t pass up because of the fantastic price. This company puts in a lot of thought into optimizing the level of non-service so that they can derive maximum $$ without completely losing the customer. I had stopped patronizing this store a long time ago but was still fascinated by the brazenness of the strategy. Machiavelli would be proud.

I’d be interested in what others think of the strategy … pure evil or evil genius?

I wanted to quickly note that your Petsmart experience was not an isolated incident… I have had the exact same (gratifying) experience at multiple locations shopping for our dogs. So when you share this tale, you can note others have reaffirmed it. It really does appear Petsmart is a large organization that not only “gets it” but implements it everyday!