'How great is Boots?'
It is a very interesting thing for me to consider. As
you well know I work for Boots so of course am in their all the time! I don't
think there is a day I don't visit! It's like I have some strange compulsion to
go in there every single day regardless of if it's my day off or not! And the
best thing is I can't stand working there half the time! On a day I have to
work I literally fill with dread quite often, but I guess a lot of people feel
like that when going to work I suppose. Although when just visiting on a time
I'm not actually working it's usually a lot more pleasurable being there. But
then again I get some sort of kick out of shopping... literally shopping
anywhere, be it clothing outlets, department stores, beauty sections, even the
supermarket! Yes I enjoy going food shopping! The only bit I don't like is the
handing the money over at the till part at the end! But other than that I love
it! It's almost an addiction I'd say. I literally love nothing more than
wandering aimlessly round shops and particularly shops like Boots! Whenever I'm
having a down day, or not feeling great I always go shopping as it's true what
they say, shopping really is my retail therapy!
But more to the point
I wonder how my answers may differ from everyone elses considering I do work
for the company and therefore am going to have quite different views.
Especially seeing as I'm possibly going to know slightly different information
about Boots, in terms of behind the scenes. Not saying it's a lot considering
I'm not of any supervisory or management position but still probably more than
the average shopper! Guess until I've written my full response you're not gonna
know! :)
Now it's going to be hard for me to distance myself from
being Emily the Boots worker from Emily the Boots customer so I'll probably
switch between the two a bit. For example considering the question:
'What do you like
about the Boots shopping experience?'
Well from a customer's point of view I'd
say: Boots generally have a product to fit your health and beauty needs, be it
a skincare need, cold and flu need or you need a new fragrance you are able to
find something to fit at the shop. It's arguably the biggest health and beauty
chain in the country and stock one of the widest selections, especially if
visiting the larger flagship stores, so you're spoilt for choice. I love that I
can look around and find a product that's right for me. Plus I like the mix of
premium brands such as Clarins, Clinique and Dior to the most basic such as
Boots Essentials so there is something
to suit every budget too! I also like how anyone from the young to old can shop
in Boots, and literally you can grow up in there right from the baby age and
into children and then with girls in particular they can experiment with the
younger girl cosmetic products and skincare, till teenage and they fully go
into skincare mode. Okay not everyone but I did, getting cosmetics, skincare,
picking out different body sprays etc. Then Boots cater right up to the older
lady with their range of anti-aging formulas, again from the more high street
names e.g. Nivea, Garnier right up to the premiums e.g. Estee Lauder, Clinique.
Now from a colleague's perspective I've got to say it's seeing customers
leave, happy with their purchases. Often they've gotten something they either
need or want and many leave satisfied with the price they've paid too. Plus I
think the advantage card helps as well because people always like receiving
their points. In fact some get a little too obsessive with them and want you to
monitor every single item, plus their double points, plus their extra 300
points voucher, etc. And then still scrutinize what you've done! And that's not
even including the fact they've bought it all from the clearance section!!!
(Can you tell I was reminiscing one particular incident from the other day
haha!)
However as someone who works for Boots that's something that
drives me mad about the Boots shopping experience. So if thinking...
'What do you dislike about the Boots shopping experience?'
I'd say, nothing is ever clear. They
have so many offers going on at the same time and by the time you've added your
vouchers (if they actually qualify) I don't know what ends up more confused,
me, the till or the customer! Plus more often than not the store will often
forget to change over just even one of the offers on sales plan day and then
you get customers coming up to you being like 'well it said this' and then
accusing staff of not putting it through properly on the till or something! Or
customers don't read the sign properly and then think they can get something
that isn't on offer for the offer price. So Boots should probably make their
signs clearer! However, as a consumer I'd say the thing that winds me up most
about shopping at Boots is they frequently will not have something in store.
For example the other day I went into the flagship store in Leeds that I work
in and was planning on purchasing the Fast Hair Shampoo and Conditioner. Now
the Boots there are actually really advertising this and have even got it in
the specially dedicated 'latest finds' section. However, they had sold out. Why
have it advertised in prime location if you're sold out?!
But now personally beauty related... 'What could Boots do to improve their beauty sections? Make-up especially!'
Well in terms of Cosmetics I'd say the biggest problem for Boots
is that in the larger stores (and even in some of the smaller ones too! They
don't have someone there to look after them! This means they end up a complete
mess with things all in the wrong place and not always even in sell-able
fashion anymore as so many people end up using the products as testers and
things! Plus often the testers end up in the 'sell' sections! It just looks
awful and means that you can't even look for items properly, so would never
know if something was in stock or not! Plus that's another major issue when the
cosmetics sections aren't looked after, the stock doesn't get replenished as
quickly so customers are then left unable to purchase the latest beauty innovations
as even if the store has it in stock you'd never know about it as it's stuck in
a crate or a draw somewhere and not put in the makeup sections when the spaced
becomes free. Although I've got to credit the beauty counters, e.g. premium
beauty like Benefit and No.7 as these are often well looked after and the girls
(and some men too) do a really great job and deserve credit for their brand! I
think if all the sections had a dedicated representative that took pride in
them and was expert in the section too then it would be amazing as customers
would be able to get specialist advice and find the ideal products for them.
However, I know this is often impractical so maybe a makeup dedicated sales
team that would be knowledgeable on all the high-street brands would be a good
idea. Although maybe they would need to be like the premium beauty franchises
and often employed outside of Boots and brought in just to work in that
location.
What do you think? Do you have an opinion on Boots?
Emily x
Images sourced: http://www.boots.com
