I learned so many lessons in running a business, and there’s one major rule that I see small business owners screw up on a regular basis.
Number #1 Rule in Retail: Make it easy for customers to give you their money.
Common sense, right? You’d think so. Instead, I watch small business after small business make it nearly impossible for me to spend my money with them. Here are the top two ways they make it impossible for me to give them my business.
The Zellers coupon fiasco of last week ended with the company receiving more than a thousand comments on their Facebook page. The Cliff Notes version is that Zellers released an online coupon on their Facebook page that permitted one item per customer to be purchased at 50% off—and sale items were included. So the mattress pad I’ve been eying was 60% off, then 50% off of that price—a total steal of a deal.
While I do a lot of my Christmas shopping throughout the year, some gifts, such as our gift exchange names, must necessarily wait until the busy season. I often have to drag my three kids with me on these excursions, and find myself worrying about losing them in a store or in the mall at large while I’m distracted by the craziness of it all.
Justin Hwang, Associate Vice President of Fraud Management at TD Canada Trust, says I should also be worried about someone stealing my identity.
