Consumer Behaviour

For some reason young children often find it hard to apologise. Things get out of hand when they’re playing and the next thing you know one feels so aggrieved about something the other has done that she throws a toy at him, he reacts to this and throws six back. Both feel completely justified and, when you hear the commotion and go to sort it out both turn the tears on and appear equally upset. Often it’s impossible to work out, between the snuffles and sobs, what singular action set the chain of angry events in motion. A request for them to apologise to each other is met with fierce resistance. It’s ironic really because, later in life, we British become so apologetic that someone could stand on our foot and we would say, “I’m sorry, please would you mind not breaking my toes.” Eventually one might manage a hugely […]

I don’t own shares in the UK supermarket chain Asda (or rather their parent company Wal-Mart) but if I did I would be selling them just about now. Earlier this month Asda announced that they wanted to invoke a new era of ‘democratic consumerism’. To quote their chief executive Andy Bond this will be “the dawn of a new age where customers dictate how we do business and the products we sell.” Dictate! To facilitate this the company is setting up a massive internet based survey, so that it can regularly solicit the opinions of 18,000 customers when decisions are being taken on issues like purchasing. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m all for democracy. But Asda already has it. They choose what to do and look at the numbers of people who come through their doors and what they choose to buy when they get there. But there’s no point asking […]

Following on from last week’s article that reported on a study that had found apologising could be more beneficial than compensating customers who felt aggrieved ( it’s here if you missed it), I said I would give some pointers for a good apology. To start off with I’d like to dispel an apology myth. Few things are worse than feigned empathy. I have lost track of the number of times I’ve heard customer service staff say, “I do understand how you feel”. This demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding in the nature of human transactions. When person one is angry, adopting a passive parental style isn’t likely to appease them. If someone is sad then empathising with them is a good idea. Sadness is an emotion that stems from a past event that can’t be changed. Anger is a present time emotion. If you step on my foot my anger will cause me to […]

I’m willing to admit it. In fact, it can be quite hard to hide. I have big feet. Despite having parents of average height my mother’s parents’ genes found their way down the line to me and ended up with above average height and big feet. I’m fine about them. They aren’t circus huge or anything. However, when it comes to buying shoes I’ve come to learn that the chances of disappointment are quite high. I walk round the shop find one or two styles I like and ask the usual question. “Do you have these in a size 12 or 13?” The answer is frequently no. Which is annoying because I know they make shoes in this size – plenty of people have bigger feet than me – but the retailers don’t stock many pairs and they soon sell out. You could argue that they are best placed to […]