Monday, August 24, 2009

Apologize to Customers for Retailing Errors

An item you intend to sell for $1,699.99 has some digits missing from the internet price. It's being offered for $9.99. That's what happened to electronics retailer Best Buy. What happened next is a case study about apologizing for sour lemonade mistakes.
  • Orders flooded in over the internet. Store shoppers lined up, many clutching a printout of the online ad.
  • Best Buy promptly shut down order-taking for the item, posting a statement saying, "We sincerely apologize for this error and make every effort to ensure issues like this do not happen…. While we are truly embarrassed that this occurred, Best Buy will not be able to honor the $9.99 price."
  • Some of the purchasers who'd already gotten their order confirmations now turned their flood from sweet to sour, filling online forums with bitter complaints and threatening legal action.
  • Then the sweetness came from a different source. Posts appeared on those forums reading, for example, "Yeah, someone screwed up, but Best Buy carries a lot of customer good will going into this. They usually have the best prices and treat customers well." Even a fellow who started a website to protest Best Buy's withdrawal of the $9.99 offer ended up writing, "… they have received a HUGE amount of publicity over this matter. Now, they seem to be the only ones walking around with a smile on there [sic] face knowing that they have received completely FREE advertising."
     Consistent with research at Stanford University, Best Buy came out of this looking so good because the stores have what is labeled as an "exciting" more than a "sincere" brand personality. What is the personality of your retail business, and what are the best ways for you to turn sour lemons into sweet lemonade when the inevitable mistakes happen?

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