EDLP or not, retailers are out of control!

May 25, 2011 — ELDP, retail, slider

What’s wrong with the picture below?

The clue is in the row of heads above the shelves of candy.

This discount retailer has positioned hundreds of impulse items along two sides of this isle designed to tempt shoppers while they queue for a checkout.

By my reckoning, the shopper you can see at the top of the picture has a 15 minute wait ahead of them, providing lots of opportunity for the retailer to maximise Basket size.

The longer the queue, the greater the likelihood folks will be upsold. This retailer has knowingly implemented a strategy to reward themselves for poor service. That is broken.

Regardless of their EDLP strategy, poor service shouldn’t be part of it. Institutionalising crappy service is outrageous, deriving benefit has to be the shortest of short term views.