I wouldn’t want her job. Not in the current economic climate.
Karen Katz is the CEO of the well-known retail chain, Neiman Marcus. “Neiman’s” has a reputation as the department store that appeals to the upper-most tier of the American socioeconomic spectrum: the rich.”
Traditionally trained economists would suggest the economic downturn would hardly effect America’s wealthy, but this isn’t a textbook recession.
Katz’ position interests me as a student of excellent customer service. I’m a retailer of fine reading glasses, the former managing partners of a New York advertising agency, and a guy with several special Neiman Marcus relationships.
About those relationships: several friends are ardent customers of the chain, colleagues are selling to and/or have sold to Neiman Marcus as suppliers, and a swath of Neimans’ sales associates are personal friends.
Neiman’s never, ever discounts its merchandise and that’s smart when your goal is to maintain equity in the brand for a uber-upscale retail operation. But it might not be so savvy in this pickle barrel of an economy.
The equity of any brand, any business, is first and foremost, dependent upon survival. If Neiman’s doesn’t survive the current economic environment it’ll go out of business and exist only as a nostalgic memory to those who loved shopping there during better times.
My sources tell me business there is dismal. The chain is attracting few visitors and even fewer paying customers. Suppliers aren’t being paid on time. Employee and supplier morale is low.
Loyal customers are dismayed at the lack of new merchandise. And even if there was new merchandise from which to select they’ve been reluctant to purchase either because they’re freaked over their shinking stock portfolios or are embarrassed to openly spend on luxury merchandise. Whatever.
Neiman’s needs customers. It needs merchandise. It needs to provide its sales associates with customers to whom they can sell [Ms. Katz, don't tell me that's the sales associates' job. You're smarter than that.]
What Neiman Marcus must do is examine its business model, stop pulling in costly outside consulting firms for advice and listen to its customers and sales associates. The insights of those audiences are profound, though often discounted or ignored by senior managements at all kinds of companies [note just Neiman Marcus].
Ms. Katz, perhaps you don’t have to discount. But you know your in-store events and other traditional tactics aren’t working.
Why not swallow your pride, conduct some research and make surprise anonymous visits to your stores and ask around [if you announce you're coming stores, staffs will be consumed with giving the store a paint job, putting down new rugs, setting up special displays, and more--just to impress you. Your store visits routinely cost you $125,000 up & above what you spend for travel and entertainment with your posse]. You’ll be surprised at peoples’ willingness to share. And you’ll be delighted to learn you’ve been working with some smart people who understand the chain’s plight and have solutions that tower over your consultants’ recommendation to lay off customer service personnel. Let the little people responsible for revenue generation throw some ideas your way.
They’ve got a lot of good ones. Really good ideas.
and compact styles from Cinzia Designs and Scojo New York are an easy way to keep an extra, hip-looking pair of glasses always at hand.”
