Resistance is futile
Path of least resistance.
As shoppers, we tend to follow this philosophy, don’t we?
Take for example, airline travel.
In traveling over time, I used to fly mostly with United.
After reaching a decent status level, the economy-plus seating is comfortable enough, and they play that cool George Gershwin theme song, “Rhapsody in Blue.”
However, over the years I found this isn’t enough for this customer to be a regular traveler.
It seems that United doesn’t fly often enough where I’m going.
When they do, the choices are limited.
I pay extra for flight changes, for luggage, and (worst of all) their prices have crept up and up.
So now I’m mostly a Southwest traveler.
Lots of flight choices, no bag or flight change fees, and their prices are more than competitive.
Oh sure, call them a discount airline, with few frills, general boarding (and no classical music jingle).
But all things considered, I look at the foundational purpose: Going from point A to point B.
Now, if you do an honest assessment of your store, of your produce department, how do you think your customers view your operation?
How many ways do you make it difficult (or easy) to be your customer?
I can use a couple of nearby, comparably priced grocers to match our airline comparison.
The ‘difficult’ chain has national appeal. They have most of the attributes that customers favor: They are clean and organized, have decent stock conditions and selection. They have wide aisles, good lighting and heck, even have a solid produce department.
Good for them.
The ‘path of least resistance’ chain has all of the above as well.
Unlike the difficult chain, the POLR chain has more clerks available. The difficult chain (at best) has one or two checkstands open, and must draw assistance from outlying departments if it gets the least bit busy.
The POLR chain? They anticipate busy periods and schedule staff to meet customer demand.
They also tend to carry a wider assortment of sizes (not just the very small-and very large packages) found in the difficult chain.
Need a special cut of watermelon, advice on how to cut up a mango? Have a complaint? How about now that holiday season is upon us, which chain do you suspect is more capable of making a fruit basket or taking a special order? In a professional and timely manner, that is.
Compared to say, football, the path of least resistance chain is the winning team.
They demonstrate their winning record with a larger market share.
Their plentiful, positive-attitude work staff are the popular players.
Which raises the question: Which concourse, which sideline is your chain on?
