In my new business, we are building some electronic circuits and I needed to set up a small lab bench rather than trying to shoe horn my circuit boards, DVM, oscilloscope probes and so forth on a tiny work area next to my computer.

I visited Lowe’s which had on display exactly what I needed – perfect size and features and a very good price. Except they were sold out, and it was a clearance item. I asked if I could buy the display model but the display model belonged to the supplier, not Lowe’s. However, he checked if any other nearby Lowe’s had any left in stock. We walked about 70 feet over to a computer and he quickly checked the inventory and alas, everyone was sold out.

Anyway, good use of modern information technology tools, including the wireless phone or two-way radio (don’t remember which) to fetch the sales guy.

I then traveled to a couple of other stores that did not have any products meeting my needs,. I eventually ended up at Sears.

At Sears, they had a unit that would work fine for me.  To find out if they had these available, I had to talk to a sales person. After a lengthy delay, a sales person said he would check their inventory. I mistakenly thought he would walk 25 feet to the computer display and check inventory – but no, he had to walk all the way to the warehouse to check, and then come back to me. Time: 8 minutes. And … they were out of stock.

While waiting, I found another product that would also work and, fortunately for me, was on sale.  But to check, the sales guy had to again walk all the way back to the warehouse. Again.

I was quite surprised that Sears has not applied common information technology to improve this checking on inventory. This wasted valuable time of customers and sales staff.

Fortunately, this item was in stock, at a great price too. But I’d have to pay now and pick it up at merchandise pickup. They said I would have to park in the merchandise pick up lot too.  Too bad – all the spaces were taken. Not only were they taken, as I parked elsewhere and watched, all of the merchandise pickup spaces were being used by customers who had been shopping inside the store – and not pickup warehouse merchandise at all. Not entirely Sears’ problem but they may want to think about putting a generic store entrance next to the close-in parking of their merchandise pick up!

I scanned my receipt and read the sign that said they strive to achieve warehouse deliveries in less than 5 minutes. Their computer display even shows how long I’ve been waiting …. and waiting … and waiting … as the 5 minute ticker goes by…

Oops. They missed that by quite a bit. They did give a $5 off coupon good on any future purchase.

Clearly, this Sears store has a few things to work on …. but as an institution they did not seem to be using information systems at the point of customer service. They seem to be in the dark ages on this. Customers will go elsewhere to competitors operating more efficiently. I do hope that Sears addresses this – its a decent store with good products.

Lowe’s – I’d rank as “very good” in terms of how they used wireless communications to find staff and the computer to quickly answer questions.

Sears – I’d rank as “poor” in that regard. They can do much better!

The Apple iPad could be a great tool in the retail space. Connected wirelessly and no need for a keyboard, it would be the perfect tool for sales people to have to quickly check inventory, availability and pricing. (Hint: Sears!)

Update Feb 8th:  After I filled out their online customer service survey, Sears called me back this morning to say they were escalating my comments up the chain. They were sincerely apologetic. I told them I wasn’t upset – but rather amused by the situation – and they appreciated that my interest is in helping them spot problems that needs fixing.  I may be hearing later from the store manager.