Comparing Retail Service Models

Seven Cycles is not a retail business--obviously.  Regardless, the sales team at Seven and I are very interested in retailer businesses and how the retailer environment is evolving.  

My interest is doubly strong because I worked at a bike shop for seven years--throughout high school and college--before getting into frame building.  My experience at the bike shop was an extremely formative time for me; my boss and manager taught me a tremendous amount during those seven years.

So anytime I see articles about retailer business models, I am always interested.  I recently read an article in Fast Company titled "Magic Shop". 

The writer, Alex Frankel, recently wrote the book Punching In about his experiences as a front line employee for some of the largest employers in the US.  In the FC article, Frankel compares the training and retailer service models of five of the largest employers--particularly for retail--in the country:

• Apple
• Starbucks
• Gap
• UPS
• Container Store

New Hire Training

Of course, most new hire orientations fall short:

• Gap:  "Starting on the wrong foot by showing us a video about the perils of employee theft."
• Starbucks:  handed out "Orwellian handbooks telling us to "Be Authentic"."
• Apple:  treats employees like adults; they teach them how to work together.  All through a series of podcasts and by shadowing other employees.

Seven Cycles is not a retail business--obviously.  Regardless, the sales team at Seven and I are very interested in retailer businesses and how the retailer environment is evolving.  

My interest is doubly strong because I worked at a bike shop for seven years--throughout high school and college--before getting into frame building.  My experience at the bike shop was an extremely formative time for me; my boss and manager taught me a tremendous amount during those seven years.

So anytime I see articles about retailer business models, I am always interested.  I recently read an article in Fast Company titled "Magic Shop". 

• Apple
• Starbucks
• Gap
• UPS
• Container Store

New Hire Training

Of course, most new hire orientations fall short:

• Gap:  "Starting on the wrong foot by showing us a video about the perils of employee theft."
• Starbucks:  handed out "Orwellian handbooks telling us to "Be Authentic"."
• Apple:  treats employees like adults; they teach them how to work together.  All through a series of podcasts and by shadowing other employees.

General Observations

At Starbucks Frankel "describes the company culture as something akin to kindergarten, where employees are taught to play well with others and make the customer feel loved."  Additionally, drinks are apparently so complicated that Starbucks makes games out of the learning process in order to facilitate memorization.  "After taking yet another order for a silly, oversugared beverage...I wanted to flee."

Frankel felt that Gap focuses on "reinventing store design" rather than on "finding or creating better employees."  He couldn't wait for his shifts to end; "Gap was my gulag."

Frankel found UPS to be very regimented but with "enough independence for workers to be energized by the daily challenges of getting all the packages out."  Also, employees use knowledge rather than technology to solve problems.

The Container Store was the only business that "did a s good a job as Apple stores at finding people passionate about what they're selling."  That's about all Frankel shares regarding Container Store in the article.

Apple considers employees to be "sharers of information, instead of sellers of products", and therefore customers respond positively.  Their service mantra is "Position, permission, probe."  A bit unfortunate; it sounds to me more like a back alley dealing than a selling process.  Although the writer seems to believe it is a good model.  It appears to me to be yet another simplified version of SPIN selling.

An interesting metric, Apple sells $4,000 per square foot per month.  They know that "the bottom line suffer every minute customers wait for help."

About the only negative statement that Frankel made regarding Apple is that the employees don't work too hard.  I think I could expand on his list of one shortcoming.

At Starbucks Frankel "describes the company culture as something akin to kindergarten, where employees are taught to play well with others and make the customer feel loved."  Additionally, drinks are apparently so complicated that Starbucks makes games out of the learning process in order to facilitate memorization.  "After taking yet another order for a silly, oversugared beverage...I wanted to flee."

Frankel felt that Gap focuses on "reinventing store design" rather than on "finding or creating better employees."  He couldn't wait for his shifts to end; "Gap was my gulag."

Frankel found UPS to be very regimented but with "enough independence for workers to be energized by the daily challenges of getting all the packages out."  Also, employees use knowledge rather than technology to solve problems.

The Container Store was the only business that "did a s good a job as Apple stores at finding people passionate about what they're selling."  That's about all Frankel shares regarding Container Store in the article.

Apple considers employees to be "sharers of information, instead of sellers of products", and therefore customers respond positively.  Their service mantra is "Position, permission, probe."  A bit unfortunate; it sounds to me more like a back alley dealing than a selling process.  Although the writer seems to believe it is a good model.  It appears to me to be yet another simplified version of SPIN selling.

An interesting metric, Apple sells $4,000 per square foot per month.  They know that "the bottom line suffer every minute customers wait for help."

About the only negative statement that Frankel made regarding Apple is that the employees don't work too hard.  I think I could expand on his list of one shortcoming.