Yes, Customer Service is Dying. Retail Companies are Killing it.
Here's the truth, what needs to change, and who is doing it right
Running a primarily teenage team requires a sense of humor and a lot of patience. They have such energy, such zest for life, and they can be total boneheads. They'd get distracted. They'd forget to clock in. Or they'd walk right by a pile of clothes on the floor. "Oh! I didn't see that!"
I chased them around, repeating myself eighty times a day.
Their intentions were good, and they wanted to know all the reasons behind the rules, which I have always appreciated. I was happy to answer their questions and show them how I ran the store.
One sunny SoCal day, we saw a teachable moment in a pile of clothes.
Your standard retail tornado 101
On a slow weekday afternoon, as my leaders and I walked the floor, we noticed that a corner of the women's department had been furiously shopped. Tops were falling off hangers, and the shelves were a mess—your standard retail tornado 101.
We asked someone to volunteer to give it a quick cleanup. Then we asked the team, "Do you know why we do this? Do you know why this is important?"
"So you guys don't get in trouble?' Someone responded.
After we were done laughing, we said, "No. We do it for the customer. Everything we do: staffing, calling up more cashiers, keeping the store neat - all of it - is to make sure we provide an outstanding shopping experience."
"Ohhhhhh, that makes sense," they replied. And then everyone went back to gossiping.
Sigh.
Teens gonna teen.
I'm a legacy leader. Retail was my career for twenty-four years. It was my identity. Wrapped up in that identity was an enormous sense of pride about how I led teams and the kind of customer service my team and I provided.
The health and well-being of my team came first, but as soon as we shook those metal doors open for business, customers became number one.
We taught people to:
Sell sideways—that means always having your front or side to the front door, never your back. Be approachable and available.
Greet people - like a human. "Hey, what's up?" "Hi there." "Good morning, guys." Whatever greeting is natural to you and fits the customer. "Welcome to ______ ." It can often be unnatural and awkward.
Connect—Learning to make small talk with a stranger is one of the hardest things to teach people. "Do you need help?" It is not how you do it. Compliment them (genuinely!), ask when they got to the Apple Store (if they're holding a bag from there), or casually chat about what they're up to for the day.
After that, we:
Transition into selling
Keep it about them
Add on
Ensure the checkout experience is top-notch
Even if we didn't have what the customer needed and didn't sell them anything, I didn't care. I wanted them to walk out thinking, "Wow! Those people were really cool and helpful. I'll have to come back here."
It's different now.
Stores are No Longer Just Stores
Many retailers have stripped their stores of payroll hours, leaving businesses to operate on a skeleton crew. Throw in daily shipment drops, ship from store, and buy online pickup in store (BOPIS), and teams are stressed. They're stretched beyond their limits.
Stores are no longer stores. They front like a store, but they double as a warehouse. Store leaders have to figure out the best time to process shipments, pick orders, and pack them, often with no one technically scheduled to do that work.
We'd staff the sales floor, and we'd get to any orders we received when we had a second. We'd plan for peak seasons, but the rest of the year, we couldn’t. We'd have to wing it because we didn't have any payroll hours dedicated to that.
Store leaders are now doing everything because payroll hours are so slim: Staffing, writing schedules, selling, coaching, training, cashiers, and packing online orders.
Companies have held up productivity as a target metric.
Numbers on a report have overtaken the customer experience.
When my payroll was stripped, and our customer service suffered, I caused a ruckus. I was furious that the companies I worked for would let the customer experience tank. The lack of hours and the uptick of tasks led to an in-store experience I was not proud to host.
Guess what happened next?
The team began to care less about the customer experience. Everyone thought, "Well, if the company doesn't care, why should we?"
This attitude shift comes from a lack of resources.
If employees aren't supported, listened to, and advocated for, they quiet quit. They do the bare minimum because that's all they can manage with what they have.
It doesn't have to be like this.
If you are a retailer with a store, staff it. Pay people well and invest in them. Provide resources (payroll, training, and development) to ensure their success.
Your store is a living embodiment of your brand. How do you want to make your customers feel? All your decisions should stem from that question.
Have you ever been in a Hammitt store? The employees cannot wait to connect, show you around, and listen to your story. Want to know why? Because Tony Drockton, Hammitt's CEO and "Chief Cheerleader," makes employees feel valued. They feel like they're part of something bigger and cannot wait to share that feeling with others.
I left the store feeling like I needed a new handbag (which I definitely do not) simply because I wanted a piece of that culture.
Look, life is a people game. Business is a people game. Focus on the people. Yes, hire finance people to help you. Hire number crunchers and innovators, but always remember why you went into business in the first place.
It was for the people.
It was to offer them something new, different, and thrilling—something that would enhance their lives and make them feel included.
Walking into a store with too few employees running around pulling orders for online isn't it. If we want no help and zero connection, we can stay home and shop from our phones.
Resources, connection, and investment in people will show your customers who you really care about - because it should be about them.
Let's get back to that.
Kit Campoy is an author and retail expert with 20+ years of experience leading retail teams. She thrived on building relationships with customers and motivating sales teams. Now, as a ghostwriter, she leverages this people-centric approach to craft compelling content that resonates and ignites brand loyalty.
Again, I so appreciate your voice, guidance and support of retail workers.
Plus I concur with your position on customer service these days and curious how corporate doesn't recognize the connection between service and revenue.
Such a succinct and perfect laying out of the problem and WHY it needs to be fixed!!!! And now I'm going to have to go look at those handbags.
Also....I could just SEE those teens being teens!! And, yes, they are the best workers if you respect them.