Nordstrom’s stock rooms confirm this point: ‘Greet every customer entering
your department within 60 seconds.’
●Any merchandise that Nordstrom handles will be reimbursed for cash or
charge, whether used or unused,withouta Nordstrom sales slip. If a customer
indicates that an identical item is priced more cheaply elsewhere, the price is
lowered on the spot. Nordstrom Executive Vice President, Bob Nunn, explains:
‘Nordstrom literally grinds up truckloads of shoes each year. These are
returned shoes that have been worn and cannot be sent back to vendors. At
face value, it seems nuts to have a policy like this. But if we run one full page
promotional ad in the Seattle newspaper, it costs us the equivalent of 500 pairs
of shoes. And we don’t know if the ad works. But give a customer a new pair
of shoes with no hassle and it’s a story that gets told and retold at parties and
at the bridge table.Word-of-mouth endorsement really works.We know it.’^19
●There are no evident security measures or security guards at Nordstrom, nor
are there restrictions on the number of items taken into a dressing room.Very
few items have security devices attached or are chained to racks.
●Nordstrom accepts all major credit cards.
●Live piano music plays in most stores. In colder climates, greeters may offer to
check the customer’s coat at the door. Diaper changing tables are installed in
spotlessly maintained restrooms.
●Personal shoppers (the first Nordstrom salesperson you encounter) offer to
escort you throughout the store or to assemble a complete outfit while you
wait by retrieving possible items that mix and match from several different
departments.The whole ensemble is handled in one check-out procedure.
●Sales personnel may offer to deliver merchandise to a customer’s home per-
sonally. Some voluntarily spend their off-duty time tracking down merchandise
and calling customers with results.
●Gift wrapping is performed at the department where purchases occur at no
charge. Items purchased at other stores will also be wrapped at no charge and
even shipped if a customer so requests.
●When an item or an ensemble that a customer desires is not carried or is out
of stock, sales personnel have been known to travel to a competing store and
purchase it.
Responding to unreasonable requests
Overriding these examples, Nordstrom treats all customer requests,
however unreasonable, as opportunitiesto expand upon its legendary rep-
utation and keep itself on its toes. Exceptional demands, termed ‘heroics’
by insiders, include such things as paying a customer’s parking tickets
when a shopping trip at Nordstrom runs longer than expected, warming
up customers’ cars on exceptionally cold days, changing a customer’s flat
tyre, meeting customers with lost luggage at airports with selected attire,
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