Was a complete joke. We only had about 10 members show up, and by 7pm the store was empty. Which was good considering our ASM was walking around the store eating the popcorn we were giving out. So only a few members had to witness that. It was embarrassing, and unprofessional to say the least!
Management no longer cares, neither will the associates.
Same here...our store's "private" member's night was a flop. If I recall, we sold one low-end riding mower and two low-end Kenmore top load washers, with one equally low-end dryer going with one of the washers. A cheap $50 vacuum cleaner, that's about it (and I stay out on the floor as much as possible during these kinds of events). Over in softlines, the five or ten customers that did come in only seemed interested in picking over the clearance and nothing else. For our store, the sales from open to 6pm were higher than from 6 to 9 pm...imagine that.
The only means of getting the word out were the email invites (who really checks their email anyways, for marketing offers no less? This isn't 1995 anymore). Other than that, sales associates and CAC cashiers gave customers a small promo card inviting them to the event. That's it. We were not allowed to place flyers around the community as we were in the past for Friends & Family events (and the like). Per the conference call, all of the promotional work was "taken care of" and this event was "not open to the public". There was even talk about turning away non-members if they didn't want to sign up for SYWR (I don't see why anyone would refuse if they're saving money, but in theory, Sears can't afford to be picky at this point).
I knew in advance that this event was going to fail miserably due to the lack of advertising and planning. $10-20,000+ in sales doesn't happen without work, due diligence and planning. Because of the failure to think ahead in addition to the loss-leader approach in promotions, the lack of advertising and the payroll and operating costs incurred for staying open three additional hours, Sears lost money.
If for once corporate "leadership" accepted the fact that their ideas aren't working and reached out to store-level management, I'm sure that most of us would be more than glad to step up and offer our input for the sake of this company. Even then, I'm not sure if our ideas would be implemented, much less considered. There's too many people in charge that just don't get basic retail, Lampert included, and no one will own up to their failure.
@OP: Shame on your ASM for acting like an imbecile by eating popcorn on the salesfloor. He/she should have been interacting with the customers and associates and should not have walked around with no purpose. It doesn't matter if the event flopped. If he or she didn't want to mingle on the salesfloor, there is always some kind of work to do somewhere in the store, backroom or office. You are really never caught up on your work in Sears' land if you are a lead, ASM, SGM and so on.
They need to just start calling F&F the "Sucker Sale" because any body that shows up thinking your going to get a good deal your a sucker.
To be honest,I believe the only advertising for this sale was on line or e-mails,I did not see anything else on it. Also there will be another Friends and Family Sale on May 1st again.
My sister went to buy a vacuum except the price was higher on thus special priced night than before so she walked out. What a scam. I'm not surprised.
Our store received the popcorn, however, our store's last day of business was April 10th. So the associates ate the popcorn.