This is a sad story for those that are retailers – or a fan of retail in general – as the retail categories graded and discussed (covering all categories of retail – from children’s clothing home-décor to electronics) did not receive good scores.

There are not a lot of overt parallels to our marketplace. However, if you are a natural product retailer, there is a lot that you can learn from what others are doing wrong!

The story, found in the June 1st edition of Consumer Reports, is found here

First of all, only one store was rated as Excellent by half of the surveyors – and that was Costco. There aren’t any Costco’s in my part of the country, but maybe someday….. There is so much press about what they do right and so many of my friends from around the country have so many positive experiences with them that I am looking forward to experiencing them myself!

Now – bad to the bad news…..

There is a very telling list of service issues that bother consumers. Of the list below, 58% of people surveyed had a problem with at least one of these and a third of people had issues with two or more of these.

     Slow Checkouts
     Shoddy Service
     Empty Shelves
     Difficult Layout
     Hidden Price Tags
     Lengthy Returns

Here is how you can help your store stand out! These are very common negatives found throughout the marketplace – from grocery stores to department stores. You can be confident that your shoppers are experiencing these things, and on a fairly regular basis. As much as you can eliminate these items from the experiences in your store, you can go a long way to becoming a destination store with more and more shoppers!