Comments on: Why can’t retailers sell the brand? http://commons.iabc.com/branding/2006/03/12/why-can%e2%80%99t-retailers-sell-the-brand/ A Blog Community for Business Communicators Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:26:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Carina http://commons.iabc.com/branding/2006/03/12/why-can%e2%80%99t-retailers-sell-the-brand/#comment-78 Carina Thu, 23 Mar 2006 22:56:19 +0000 http://commons.iabc.com/branding/2006/03/12/why-can%e2%80%99t-retailers-sell-the-brand/#comment-78 You know, you are right. It would be incredibly helpful if that were to be the case. However, employee training is generally left up to the store on a local level, and what little training that is done generally regards company policies and procedures, cash register operations, and if they are lucky, some basic selling skills but there is no product knowledge component at all. From the retailer's point of view, there is such a high turnover rate in the retail industry that it is not worth investing the time and the money to train their employees properly. I am very suprised at the numbers you came up with in your research, though it is easy to explain. Most of those employees do not get commission and are paid very little (often minimum wage). Thus, the result is that they absolutely do not care. So, branding gets lost in translation between the advertised experience and the actual experience in the store. One last thing: if retailers tried to "sell the brand" they might be accused of promoting/favouring one brand over another and that would lead to a whole new controversy. You know, you are right. It would be incredibly helpful if that were to be the case. However, employee training is generally left up to the store on a local level, and what little training that is done generally regards company policies and procedures, cash register operations, and if they are lucky, some basic selling skills but there is no product knowledge component at all. From the retailer’s point of view, there is such a high turnover rate in the retail industry that it is not worth investing the time and the money to train their employees properly.

I am very suprised at the numbers you came up with in your research, though it is easy to explain. Most of those employees do not get commission and are paid very little (often minimum wage). Thus, the result is that they absolutely do not care. So, branding gets lost in translation between the advertised experience and the actual experience in the store.

One last thing: if retailers tried to “sell the brand” they might be accused of promoting/favouring one brand over another and that would lead to a whole new controversy.

]]>