The nearest Walgreens, at Roosevelt Road and State Street, is the first in the chain to move most merchandise behind locked doors. Customers must shop online or at self-serve kiosks at the entrance, except for a couple of aisles labeled “The Essentials.” Store employees retrieve the purchases.
My first experiences with the new system did not go smoothly.
The Walgreens website advertised a two-for-$8 sale on 42-ounce containers of Quaker Oats. Shopping online from home, I submitted an order for two and received a message that there is a $10 minimum. I added two packs of Wrigley’s Extra sugarfree bubble gum. A message came back that the gum wasn’t available. It didn’t say how to substitute another gum, but then I was able to check out with just $8 in purchases.
Minutes later, an email arrived saying that my order had been changed to one container of oats for $4. The single container was ready for pickup.
Arriving at the store, I noticed a few 42-ounce containers of oats on “The Essentials” shelves and asked why I couldn’t get two. “Sorry for the confusion,” the clerk said. “We found more right after you got that email.” She let me buy a second container, but I had to resubmit my credit card because the original purchase price had already been adjusted.
What about the $10 minimum? “That’s if you order online,” she said. “If you order at the kiosks, there’s no minimum.” I suspect that the $10 minimum takes advantage of customers finding it more convenient to have their purchases waiting for them when they get to the store.
I went back later to test the wait for an order submitted from a kiosk. I ordered two packs of another Wrigley’s Extra gum on sale for $2 total. Although there was no line, it still took five minutes for my name to be called. “We don’t have that gum,” the clerk said. I asked about substituting another Wrigley’s Extra at the sale price. “The only sales are for online orders,” she said. I assume online includes the kiosks, but I wasn’t going to return to a kiosk and start over.
Walgreens corporate management says that customer convenience, not deterring shoplifting, is the reason the store was redesigned. This is convenience?
For the environmentally conscious, there’s another drawback to the new format: collecting, and paying for, paper bags because online orders are bagged before you get to the store.
Even though most of what I buy at Walgreens is in “The Essentials” section, which carries over-the-counter medicines and a limited selection of cosmetics, groceries, and cleaning and paper products, I expect I’ll rarely shop there. The prices seem high. The oats costing $4 online were $8.29.
A customer satisfaction survey about the new design was waiting on my computer when I returned home. The only good thing I can say is that a store that was cramped and dingy is now clean and bright.
Will every Walgreens eventually change? Management has said only that the 2 East Roosevelt store is the first to test the new system.
Leaving Walgreens after the second frustrating experience with digital shopping, I headed to CVS to buy gum off the shelves.
that too bad. I hope this is an experiment only, and doesn't go nation wide. The high cost of theft and everybody suffers. my car insurance is thru the roof, because of stolen catalytic converters and car jacking.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it's a balance between convenience and preventing shoplifting. If we want the latter, we'll have to tolerate inconvenience.
Deletes, Schultz
ReplyDeleteCount me out. I prefer to talk to people, not AI.
ReplyDeleteI can’t fathom how my dad would figure out how to purchase his pharmacy essentials. What a mess
ReplyDeleteYes, I was thinking of my parents as well. They were alive and still shopping Walgreen's four years ago. They would have paid the high prices of "The Essentials" section.
DeleteThis is the first I have heard of this new design. My first thought was "you mean they actually have employees?" I am so used to finding what I need and then checking myself out that I seldom see workers. I am surprised that the "new" system requires more workers but that sounds like a good thing. Then I realized it's not new at all. Think of the old general store where everything, including essentials, was behind the counter and had to be retrieved by the storekeeper.
ReplyDelete