Retail Rant with Apologies to Netflix
*** Disclaimer: See below for my retail rant - my commentary for the week. I know: with our family life, I have a lot more to focus on. It was a long week, though, and poor customer service & retail operational design drives me nuts after 13 years in music retail management. ***
Netflix, I am sorry. I strayed tonight.
Walking through Fred Meyer with my family today, I saw endcaps and face-outs filled with strong DVD new releases. Rather than add them to our Netflix queue and wait patiently for them to arrive by mail, I impulsed. I ran to our local Blockbuster, found three of the new releases I wanted, and headed to the counter to checkout.
Fortunately for you, Blockbuster still doesn't get it.
They purged my customer file. Because I've been a loyal Netflix customer (well, until today's faux pas) and because I haven't rented from Blockbuster for awhile, they removed me from both their current and old customer database. The clerk apologized briefly, pushed me to the McDonald's-grill-order-line equivalent, and handed me an application to fill out.
I admit I didn't take the high road. I really wanted these movies: Transformers (Gabriel and me), Surf's Up (whole family), and the new Fantastic Four (kind of whole family). I filled out the form, grumbling all the while.
When the manager came over to process my form, he asked what the problem was.
"You purged my file: makes it kind of inconvenient to give you money."
"How long since you rented with us?"
"Six months or more."
"That's why. We purge customer records after six months of inactivity. We have tens of thousands of renters; we can't keep them all on file."
Oh, okay. So it's my fault. I'm part of Blockbuster's acceptable attrition. The manager's version of customer service was to explain why my behavior was incompatible with Blockbuster's system, not try to win me over as a returning customer.
My brother and I managed retail stores and operations for over a decade each. My first non-family retail job was as a video and music clerk at The Wherehouse. I walked the floors. I knew all our regular customers. We shared movie and music tips with each other. They came in and asked for my recommendations. I sold lots of rentals and music, helping people find stuff they'd be interested in. A kid saw me in a pizza place once and yelled out, "There's the Wherehouse Man!" No joke.
Based on that experience, this is not how you win over a customer. I self-identified myself as a Netflix subscriber returning to rent from Blockbuster on a trial basis for one night. Having put a customer through a similar re-application, I would have
- Apologized for the inconvenience
- Said thank you for filling out the application and for returning to Blockbuster
- Offered a mid-week only coupon for a free movie for the trouble (a customer service smile + guaranteed return business that will probably develop into a nice rental stream)
But, no, the computer system kicks people out. Attrition is okay.
Blockbuster: a couple of clues. You can't afford to lose returning customers. Computer memory is cheap. A more sophisticated profiling system would have identified me as a 4+ DVD renter a week (that would pay for a pretty nice computer upgrade BTW). Your systems may not retain rental history over x period, but you should hang on to every customer like your retail life depended on it. According to the Trades, it does. While you're at, walk the floor & know your product. Desk jockeys can take in money, but don't generate any.
So, yes, I was still weak. I rented the movies, but Blockbuster hasn't won my allegance. We'll shelve the cards on returning the movies and update our Netflix queue.
It would be great, Netflix, if you could figure out a way to scratch the impulse rental itch, though. Maybe take a page from the RedBox book and set up stations for subscribers at every FedEx/Kinkos (shipping + hot title rentals on the spot)? Just an idea.
In the meantime, we'll pop our finished movies back in the mail & receive our next items quietly (and pretty quickly, I might add - just not same day).
Thanks for listening. Keep up the good work, Netflix.
-- Dad
