Bloomingdales

I went to Bloomindales last night to return a gift (pant suit) that I bought for my wife over the holidays.  Two kids in tow, up we went in the escalator to the women’s section of the store.  We turned the first corner to find a cashier checkout and placed the items on the counter and requested a return.  The cashier told us that he could not accept our return at this section of the women’s store and we had to go over the area where we purchased the item.  So, we walked all of 30 feet to a different cashier and returned the item.  This is ridiculous and makes zero sense.  Pleasename someone responsible for this lunacy.  It is the same Bloomingdales after all.

A poor customer experience is just one reason that i choose not to shop in malls anymore.  I just don’t enjoy it.  There are way to many clothes packed into a store and it takes too long to search for something that might interest me.  I will give credit to the two women that helped pick out the original outfit.  They went out of their way to find something that my wife would like.  But, I’ve taken my business online as you would expect and it’s saved me time, money and the hassle.

Regarding the plentiful choices available in the store and mall, in the Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz talks about how decisions become more difficult the more options that you have to choose from.  This is particularly true for a subset of people he calls Maximizers, someone who has to ‘maximize’ their purchase each and every time.  I’m not a Maximizer, but more of a Satisficer.  A satisficer doesn’t need to know that they purchased the best.  They just need to know that their purchase is a good one.  Through the use of Google and Twitter, I find that the Internet is a much more effective way to do this.   Amazon is particular does such a good job of knowing who I am and what books i like to read, i think they know me personally.   Also, Amazon presents me with 3  - 4 items per category on their/my home page; a much more effective way to help me choose the product that I ultimately want.

I trust Amazon to weed out the  products that are inferior and bring to me the top 3 or 4 recommendations that may interest me.   Thanks Amazon.

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