So, that conference call last week was fun! So glad that the poor shmuck home office put in charge of that call was prepared to take questions! Not. That whole program is a laughing stock. It's not a price match, at best it's a rebate. At worst it's just a suck to the bottom line that the stores can't afford. It is so obvious that these home office lackeys have never spent a day in a store in the field in their whole career. STOP HIRING IDIOTS FROM OUTSIDE THE COMPANY!
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Sat in on one of those price match meetings. Bottom line - it's a markdown booked to stores to further cut into your margin. Ways to avoid that were discussed.
I imagine LP is holding it back from being a true price match because they are afraid of the problems it could potentially cause.
as a practical suggestion, while it is possible to factor in one's head, invest in calculators for each of your cashiers. It proved vital. Another thing one -can- say about the gift cards is that while students can't use them in the same transaction, you can split up their order and ring up another separate one using the card. You're correct, it did add time to completion. So it comes down to streamlining the process and explanation while maintaining full disclosure.
Not to mention erosion of 'hassle free shopping'. Will take longer at cash register to go through the hassle of giving a price break. The logistics & procedure is a nightmare for the stores.
Being from a store that beta'd this, I can tell you that the complaint we heard over and over was a simple one; 'I'm not saving any money at all. Why can't I use it elsewhere?!' I couldn't come up with a logical and truthful answer. Even though I knew they'd just blow the money at an electronics store or something. If you get into a war with the online you'll lose for one simple reason; margins. We have staff, they bought Kiva for the robots. They can sore because of low overhead allowing for profitability on smaller margins while we rely on the human element. If you want to decrease margin and remain profitable you decrease overhead. But here, it's pretty obvious the higher you go the more vital you are. A VP does NOT get the customer the right book at the right price. Remember; last one out, make sure to switch the lights off.
Sticking around to see Follett implode.
I want to be there to tell the story firsthand to my Grandchildren how I witnessed the destruction of another great American company, with a proud heritage, by incompetent Senior leadership. Then I'll leave along with everyone else, this is going to be fun.
You are absolutely correct. This will erode the bottom line very quickly. As GS would say, we did not want to be in a race to the bottom of a price war.