No Spoons

I believe by now everyone understands the plight of our economy here in North America and indeed globally. I don’t think anyone has missed hearing about (or indeed, feeling) the shocking loss of value in the stock markets, housing prices and the dire straits some globally iconic companies find themselves such as Citigroup, AIG, Merrill Lynch, General Electric (GE), General Motors (GM), Chrysler, Ford and Bank of America. It is hard to believe but we have already been in this recession’s grasp for at least a few months now, the headlines ensuring everyone on the planet knows we are in this  “Global Economic Crisis”. It’s the only thing that may sell newspapers these days as they are staring at possible extinction as well.

As every retailer knows, it is now time to batten down the hatches, reduce costs, conserve cash and manage your business tightly. Wherever it is that a retailer makes money, that is where all the attention and focus of the organization should be.

A company like Starbucks should know we are in a recession by now. As a matter of fact, I believe they were in their own little “recession” for about a year or so prior to the market meltdown this past fall when their founder Howard Schultz stepped back in in January, 2008. Apparently he has re-focused the company, created a new “value” coffee for customers in the freeze dried variety and pared down the menu to the most profitable items. He has also emphasized, in a very wordy manifesto, the culture of the company and how important the store/customer “experience” is. He was so serious about this shift back to the company’s roots that he had every store in the world close for a few hours one evening last year so that the staff could be “re-trained” on the basics of the customer experience and individualized coffee preparation

So why, I ask, for the second time in a month, at the same Starbucks store, are they out of spoons? They sell yogurt parfaits which are delightful, but hard to eat without spoons. I asked the employees how that can be, and they shrug and giggle and apologize. To be perfectly honest, this is unacceptable.

It is a bad sign for this company, which is busy closing more stores than they are opening in the U.S. at the moment. Their operations, judging from the spoon experience, is not up to snuff, neither is their focus. I know this is an isolated example. If it had happened once, I can understand. But twice within a matter of weeks at the same store leads me to believe that Starbucks has serious problems.

Not only that, in this new era of every sale being more cherished than ever before, there is no excuse for this kind of incompetence. It is symptomatic of a larger issue, especially right now in this economic downturn. If times were booming and the line-ups were out the door and they keep tripling the spoon order and still can’t keep it in stock, that is one thing. But there are no line-ups, every sale is difficult, people are trading down to Tim Horton’s or McDonald’s – you better be as close to perfect in your execution in this economy or you are in serious trouble. They lost two parfait sales this past month from one customer. Multiply that a few times on what else they missed and you get a clear picture of what could be transpiring.

I would say any retailer is in serious trouble if they cannot figure out how to stock up on “spoons”, especially now.

TheRetailTherapist

Olympic Gory

I am digressing from my usual missives on strictly retail subjects a bit for two reasons:

1) It seems that everyone else around the world is digressing from other things to watch the glorious Olympic Games from Beijing, so why can’t I?

2) I feel compelled to comment on what I saw at the opening ceremonies on Friday night.

The opening ceremonies were absolutely breathtaking and brilliantly creative. Dramatic, acrobatic, synchronized and sensational are words that come to mind. They were truly one of a kind scenes from a one of a kind Olympic site as China makes history once again.

These ceremonies were 5000 years in the making and surpassed all expectations by miles. It is in this setting that I felt great embarrassment and disappointment when the Parade of Nations began.

I am no “fashionista”, but when Canada walked into the stadium after having witnessed the opening drummers, movable type staging and beautiful symbolism and elegance, I felt sick to my stomach. I was embarrassed to be Canadian. The Roots outfits were one thing over the past decade or so, but now that it had moved to The Bay, I guess I thought we would take it more seriously. It was a joke. Other countries paraded around either in suits or traditional wardrobes indigenous to their regions and people. Ralph Lauren did an admirable job with the Americans (although I expected a bit more as well). But short sleeved printed zip up performance tops for an Olympic Games Opening Ceremony in Beijing, China? Are you kidding me?

The Turks wore suits. The Chinese were resplendent in their national flag colours differentiated between men and women. The Canadians looked like asexual gym rats ready to hop on their bikes and pedal down the street. The printing was a weird font which wasn’t eminently legible. There was absolutely no style or creativity prevalent at all.

Not only that, the collections in the stores are severely lacking. Now I know why. There is no sense of fashion, occasion or pride in what the Canadian team wore in that Parade of Nations nor in the collection in the stores that Canadians are supposed to be enticed into buying.

Would it have been too much to ask for the Canadians to be wearing some type of co-ordinated outfit (either a suit with a cool red and white shirt – possibly red background with white maple leafs printed all over it – or a red blazer with great looking khaki pants or skirts and a cool striped polo shirt)? I was crushed.

These games may turn out to be a turning point in China’s history, even in world history. Michael Phelps will probably make Olympic history as well. With Canada being the next host of the Olympic games in 2010, I can only pray that we wake up and make amends so as not to embarrass ourselves in front of our own home crowd in Vancouver.

TheRetailTherapist