Customers

One of the top complaints from vendors is that when they have filled up the shelf and all other displays, there will be that one customer that comes in and buys up all of one package type you have. Leaving a big gapping hole for the next customer to see and request that very same item. So, as you proceed to leave the store you notice that said customer with a shopping cart filled up with your product in it. Therefore, you walk over to your section and sure enough, there is a huge gapping hole with a manager and customers just begging and waiting for you to fill it up again.

A local grocery store chain had a huge sale going on with my company’s product. And people were going crazy grocery shopping Thursday and Friday because a group of storm cells had bunched up together with weather phobia weathermen acting like ‘Chicken Little’ thinking that Tropical Storm Danny is going to be the next Katrina. Therefore, it was a little extra busy at work lately. I mean it’s not like last year when Food Lion ‘MADE’ every store remove all their Produce, Meat, Frozen and Dairy items from the shelf only to put it back out a few hours later when the so-call threat of a non-hurricane turned out to be nothing more than a night time rain event. I mean my kids toys never moved from where they were laying outside.

Anyway, as I am filling up the shelf area, a customer approaches with the look as if he planned to do some shopping. As some spaces on the shelf were still empty, this customer began complaining the usual speech. The one where every time he comes into the store he can never find what he’s looking for. The shelf is empty or doesn’t have enough speech. After he finished flexing his feathers to prove he was ‘the customer’ with ‘the customer is always right’ speech I asked what item he was looking for. He stated the item and at that point, I asked him to follow me.

As we came to the end of the isle we were on, he noticed a pallet display of our product. We continued to the next isle where there are three more pallet displays of our product and by the following isle, he saw two more pallet display of the product he was looking for. He could barely utter a thank you, as we both knew his whole speech meant nothing more than a man in dire need of a breath mint. Of course, he was busy loading up his shopping cart as quickly as he could. Lord knows you can never have enough although sometimes I think he wonders as well about these kinds of people. Usually it’s the gas stations and small restaurants that come in and buy all of our products but there are many individuals like this guy who stock up for weeks and months at a time.

One of the tricks told to me by other vendors and co-workers was that as you prepare to leave the stores, never walk down the isle you service. If you do then you take the chance of seeing empty holes that need filling up. Of course, if any of my supervisors are reading this, don’t worry, I always walk down the isle I service. Trust me.