All three retailers attempted to restore customer confidence with three entirely different approaches. Read why WIB gives thumbs down to Kmart and Ashley furniture for handling bad publicity poorly, and why World Market gets a thumbs up.
Kmart – Thumbs Down
Thanks to on-camera investigative reporting Good Morning America (GMA) busted Kmart for using deceptive marketing practices. Kmart was promoting a Martha Stewart accent table as “dark cherry.”
While the word “wood” may have been absent, most consumers would reasonably assume the word “cherry” referred to the type of wood.
When GMA staff took a power sander to the table it was discovered the table was, in fact, mostly fiberboard – something that should have been clearly stated in the product’s description.
Kmart’s Response: Blame the Customer.
Rather than admit to any wrongdoing, Kmart defended its product misrepresentation by saying that a list of materials could be found on their website as if consumers should be responsible for comparing in-store product tag description to website descriptions.
What Kmart Should Have Done: Kmart would have done better to admit to the mistake, and, since the information was on the website they could have probably gotten away with stating it was merely an oversight on their part.
Ashley Furniture – Thumbs Down
In the same investigative piece, GMA also exposed furniture store Ashley for selling a bedside table as “Horizon maple nightstand.” When tested, it was determined the “maple” table not only did not contain maple wood, but was not even made of wood!
Ashley’s Response: Pretend your customers are stupid.
Rather than offer an apology or reasonable explanation, Ashley insisted their product information was truthful and accurate because “maple” referred to the color of the table and in no way implied “wood” was used in the table.
How Ashley Should Have Responded: By attempting to sweep an obvious lie under the rug they missed an opportunity to change store policies and look like good guys. It would have been a simple an inexpensive remedy to provide accurate information or a disclaimer when names of wood in product descriptions were only intended to reflect color.
World Market – Thumbs Up
When GMA discovered that World Market was selling chairs as “leather” when in fact they were synthetic, World Market stepped up to the plate.
How World Market Responded: World Market acknowledged that a quarter of its chairs sold as leather were not leather, but made of synthetic materials. An apology was offered and all chairs from the line were pulled from sale.
What You Should do When Bad PR Hits
How to Develop Outstanding Customer Service Policies: Before your business is hit with a scandal, negative publicity, or even your first unhappy customer be sure to have customer service policies in place before you open your doors for business.
How Not To Lose Customers by Providing Good Customer Service: Attracting customers is only half your goal in business. You also need to focus on developing strategies for customer retention because repeat and referral customers are vital to sustain and grow your business. To accomplish this you need to have customer service polices in place!
