Tag: customers

Self-checkouts

Posted on by philipdodson

Self-checkouts are great for the retailer, well short-term they are. After a period of time, they claw back the investment on the kit by the savings in wages.

Longer term, they lose the human interaction with their customers.

I might be alone here, but part of the attraction of retailing in person is the human interaction versus the sanitised world of click and buy. It is what keeps me going to one shop versus another, it is part of the simple pleasures of life that are systematically being eradicated from our lives.

Lastly, perhaps we could move on from this failed model of the never ending cycle of saving money to increase profits. The only gainers in that model are the shareholders, not the customer or employee.

I prefer to support the human touch.

Trawling versus a fishing rod

Posted on by philipdodson

Sure you catch more with a big net trawling the entire ocean, so you end up with some of the fish you perhaps are looking for, however, you end up with car tyres, washing machines and all sorts from the depths of the ocean and many of the wrong kind of fish.

When you just simply cast your line into the pond using a fishing rod, sure you’ll catch less, but it will be a better quality catch. You’ll be able to get the fish you need.

In business, think whether you want to trawl or be targeted.

If you go for big, not only does it cost a lot of money and time, you end up catching everything, good or bad. In order to do that you have to create a very big net. You have to be all things to all people and that removes quality and reduces your value.

Far better to be targeted and choosy about who you want to do business with. Catching fish in a pond that others are ignoring, as they are too busy trawling the oceans with everyone else, looking for the big catch.

Small not big.