Retail Customer Experience reported on two interesting examples of the return of full customer service. First Sears, who has been struggling in recent months, has decided to re-introduce their full service beauty departments.  Apparently, they pulled out of cosmetics some eight years ago. Now in an effort to lure shoppers back in the doors they will feature brands like L’Oreal, Maybelline and Covergirl with counters and attendants just like you find at Macy’s for Estee Lauder and Bobbi Brown.  Sears choice of brands is interesting for several reasons. These brands are usually relegated to mass and drug stores where shoppers have no opportunity to try before they buy. You have to know the product or be willing to take the risk. There is a built in base of customers in those drug store shoppers that are hesitating more now than before for fear of wasting money on a lipstick that is just the wrong color. In addition, all of these brands, Covergirl in particular, have a strong following of younger women who typically do not shop Sears. Pulling them into the Sears store with an opportunity to sample their favorite low-cost brand while getting luxury brand service is pretty savvy. Not to mention, the one thing that will sell in a down economy is lipstick.

On the grocery side of things, a Staten Island ShopRite is offering valet parking.  No, not Whole Foods, ShopRite. One of their shoppers was quoted as saying, “I don’t need the valet service,” as she walked to her car. Which begs the question, how much service is too much.  There’s a difference between a well thought out plan that targets customers based on understanding their needs and lifestyles and creating unnecessary bells and whistles. 

Do retailers have to be careful not to go overboard in trying to win customers? How do they go about striking the right balance?

The concept, however, seems fairly obvious and vaguely familiar.  Proctor and Gamble has been building a retail portfolio for some time now. Their product themed stores are a way to promote and test products as well as gather information about their product users in environments where the products are used. P&G recently acquired a men’s grooming store, a 14-location car wash chain, dry cleaning stores and Fekkai, the well known chain of hair salons.  All of these retail locations are aligned with popular P&G product lines like Mr. Clean and Tide among others.

According to Ian Ritter at Bnet, these types of direct to consumer retail marketing programs are going to become increasingly important for manufacturers as retailers increasingly become manufacturers themselves by heavily investing into private label products. It’s a trend that could that could be detrimental to manufacturers who rely on those channels.  John Wilkins, VP of Retail Strategy at Miller Zell, wrote a very interesting article for The HUB Magazine touching on the value of product testing for the shopper in the decision-making process.  According to Wilkins, a key component missing from the manufacturer-shopper relationship is understanding, “that helping a shopper make a leap from the accustomed to the new with an environment that supports the decision to try something new [helps] her envision the possibilities.”