Sometimes you just gotta wonder “what are they thinking?!” ‘They,’ in this case, is a premier national department store well known for their customer service (WKFTCS). I was going to specifically call out this retail establishment, but it’s likely that many of their competitors do the same thing so I’ll indict, by implication, the whole crowd.
I went into this WKFTCS store recently to buy a pair of dress slacks; not an uncommon occurrence. Also not uncommon is that I often find myself buying a jacket and/or shoes and/or a blouse and/or a purse and/or [on and on and on] to go with the pair of slacks. Oh, and did I mention that I’m not particularly price-sensitive or really a ‘sale’ shopper? In short, I’m a dream customer for any retailer.
So I find a nice pair of Armani slacks (full price, oh well) that have an unfinished hem. No big deal. Even when they charged me to finish the unfinished hem, it was no big deal—an annoying, bad-taste-in-my-mouth distraction, but still no big deal.
Until, until I learn that if you go to the men’s department, all unhemmed slacks—whether $50 or $500—include free tailoring. What is that about?
So I ask: why do good companies institute stupid, downright gender-biased policies that, well, bite the hands that feed them? (Women do buy the vast majority of all consumer goods after all.)
Has your proverbial hand been nipped at lately?
Cathy
By blogger Cathy Benko, Deloitte LLP
