Many Singaporeans like to make a day trip across the causeway over the weekend for shopping and eating as it's half or one third price for everything you can get in Singapore.
Before coming home, I went to Delifrance to buy a whole almond fruit tart. Each fruit tart can be cut into 8 slices and each slice is $7 (Malaysia Ringgit). What's interesting is that the price of the whole fruit tart is listed on the price sign and it's $57 (Malaysia Ringgit).
This reminded me about a similar incident I blogged about (click here).
As mentioned previously, it doesn't make sense to list the prices for one and two items unless buying two is more economical than just one.
In this case, it is more expensive by $1 (Malaysia Ringgit) to buy one whole tart versus buying 8 slices. I wonder how much will they charge if I say I want to buy 8 pieces instead of a whole tart. Shouldn't it be cheaper to buy a whole tart to encourage people to buy more?
Of course, it doesn't make much difference to Singaporeans.
But out of curiosity, I asked the staff why there's discrepancy in the price? She just shook her head, smiled and say she didn't know. I thought the least she could do is to check with her manager. My sister suggested asking the outlet manager but I didn't do so as I think he will probably give the same answer.
The only reason I could think of the additional $1 is probably for the box.
When I was at the computer shop getting my laptop problem fixed (click here), I noticed the same problem in a different situation.
A customer walked into the shop and was served by one of the lady staff for about 15 minutes. From my view, I could see that he was showing the staff something on his mobile phone. After the customer has left, the lady staff walked over and said to another colleague, "We do not have the Apple XXXXX program right?"
The colleague said, "Yes, we have." He then took out a box and showed it to her. And then he asked her how she know that this is exactly the one that the customer was looking for, to which she replied, "He showed me a picture of it," while pointing to the wordings on the box.
She immediately rushed out but the customer is nowhere to be seen. She could have just as easily check with her colleague to confirm before sending the customer off.
The next moment, I saw her stamping her leg and hitting her clinched fist on her palm, regretting losing the sale.
If I were her, I would have gone down to look for him instead of standing at the shop doing nothing and lamenting the lost sale. After all, the customer left a few minutes ago and could probably be one floor down and still within the shopping mall. I'm going to find him even I need to turn the whole place upside down. And I'm sure the sale is easily sealed if she managed to find him.
In almost all businesses that I've patronized, I always encounter staff who have absolutely no idea what's happening in the business and cannot be bothered to find out.
In your business, how well do your staff know about all the products and services you have? How much do they know why products and services are priced the way they priced? Can they explain why it's more expensive than the competitor next door? Do they know how to answer the phone so that they do not turn off your customers? Do they know specifically what to say and what not to say? Are they able to overcome all the objections in the customers' mind? Are you leaving it to chances that your staff will know what, where, how, when and where and why of your business?