I admit it. I am a demanding consumer. But, aren't we all? We want everything better, faster, easier, and more personalized than ever before. We want to feel like we're important to the companies we do business with. But why is it that despite every marketing milestone and breakthrough many web experiences often fail to meet our expectations?

Blame company structure or budget or legacy systems or leadership or the weather. But the more you excuse it, the worse it gets.

I've made a career out of studying, advocating for, and creating customer experiences and sharing them with clients, in columns, speeches, a book, and now this blog.

So, forget the excuses. Here you'll find a consumer perspective on what works, what doesn't, who's getting it right, and who's still in the dark.

Straight-forward. Unfiltered. Customer fanaticism.




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November 17, 2007

Toys 'R' Us Kicks of the Holiday Shopping Season with a Safety Message

If your holiday shopping list is bound to include toys this year, you've probably got safety issues on your mind, with all the problems and recalls of the last few months.

My own kids are past the take-that-toy-out-of-your-mouth stage, but still buy for friends and relatives that have young tots. So I was pleased to see this email (which took the form of an official message) from the chairman and CEO of Toys 'R' Us. Titled, "Our Commitment to Safety:A Holiday Message from Toys 'R' Us". I can see how they kind of had to send the message, but it's still nice that they did.

It's lengthy, but the gist is that he wants us to feel at ease about shopping at his stores because in recent months the company has enhanced its "already high safety standards".

Most important is the "No quibble" policy. Not only will the stores take back a recalled toy even without a receipt, they'll take a recalled toy back even if you didn't buy it from them. Good move.

Another point he made is the company's relationship with a respected third-party testing company that will re-test toys "right off our shelves." While on one hand that feels like a strong, gutsy statement, in my mind those toys should never get to the shelves if they haven't cleared the highest of safety standards.Tru_email

November 17, 2007 in Children, Holiday/Special Occasion, Retail | Permalink | Bookmark

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Comments

I found your blog through the resource website. I will for sure become a subscriber!

I read that you are a picky consumer/ customer. Me too. I have to admit though that when the toys r us letter hit my inbox I was left disappointed. It was my hope to see them provide a special section for toys made in the USA and vow to make special efforts to search out new up and coming toy vendors that produce domestically. They are out there, just not always easy to find.

That simple thing would have made me thrilled at Toys R Us this shopping season.
Without that I felt this letter was written because they had too, not because the customer came first.

Posted by: Mommy Zabs | Jan 2, 2008 6:12:30 PM

Company owners think about profit most of the time and sometimes due to this problem, they seem to forget how fast a company sinks when they screw up badly and when and especially when it comes to children. Imagine that a toy could hurt a child and then imagine the parents of that child going nuts and "killing" the company owner.

Posted by: Product Reviews | May 13, 2008 1:29:58 PM

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