The Secret Shopper finds warehouse shelves only half full Jan 2, 2002 12:00 PM
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In the last days before Christmas, CATALOG AGE’s Secret
Shopper called 20 catalogers to order 60 items. Thirty-five of the
desired items, or 58%, were in stock. That's not much of a change from
holiday 2000, when 56% of The Secret Shopper's requested products were
in stock, though down somewhat from holiday 1999, when 66% were
available.
Among the catalogers contacted, only women’s apparel marketer
Boston Proper had none of the requested items in stock. Women’s
apparel cataloger/retailer Coldwater Creek, food gifts mailer Harry
& David, apparel marketer J. Crew, healthy-lifestyle products
cataloger Living Arts, and gifts title Terry’s Village were the
only companies that had all the requested items available for Christmas
delivery.
In terms of customer service, reps at Coldwater Creek, upscale gifts
catalog Herrington, apparel and home goods catalog Lands’ End,
and high-end gifts catalog Vivre were especially deserving of kudos
(and holiday bonuses). Not so the customer service rep at storage
products marketer Hold Everything. "We don't have none of those" was
her response to one Secret Shopper request. When asked, "Is it out of
stock?" she replied, "We don't show any available or none in
stock."
And the order-taker at gifts and home products marketer Martha by
Mail put The Secret Shopper on hold for six minutes while she tried to
hunt the status of a pizza kit. Worse, when the rep returned, she
didn’t apologize for not having the product or for the long hold
time.
