Ross Stores may be breaking all the rules when it comes to your expectations of a retail shop, but customers are just loving it. Customer reviews on Yelp complain about the messy and disorganised look of the store with empty shelves and bare walls. Others have complained about dirty fitting rooms, horrible service and mislabelled or damaged goods in these Yelp reviews.
However, customers admit that they still keep coming back for more because of the crazy low prices. One customer’s Yelp review said that she loved the store for cheap clothes, but it was always dirty and full of screaming children.
Love-Hate Relationship
The love of bagging a bargain seems to far outweigh the experience of shopping at Ross Stores because profits are better than expected. The second-quarter 2017 financial results from Ross reported earnings of $0.82 per share, compared to analysts’ forecasts of $0.76 a share. Revenues were $3.43 billion compared to expectations by the analysts of $3.37 billion.
Ross offers big discounts on designer brands and runs more than 1,500 stores in 37 US states under its ‘Ross Dress For Less’ and ‘dd’s DISCOUNTS’ banners. It is proving very popular and is opening more than 80 stores a year when department stores are losing sales and shutting up shop. Ross believes that the chaos inside the store excites customers, who feel they are taking part in a treasure hunt.
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Sign of the Times
The store does not have an online presence and feels it is immune to the likes of online giants such as Amazon because of the customers’ satisfaction in rummaging through clothes and other goods to find the exact item they wanted. However, some customers who are shopping in their lunch hour or want a quick look around the store before catching the train home might like a bit more guidance. Digital signage, such as those designed by http://moodmedia.co.uk/digital-signage-solutions/, could add to the excitement by pointing the way to the best bargains of the day or pointing out that a certain item is about to run out. This could add a 21st-century dimension to the treasure hunt.
Such signage can use lights, videos, digital images and interactive screens to enhance the experience of shoppers in stores, museums, hotels, restaurants and any other public space to deliver a powerful message.
