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Competition is fierce these days. If a business wants to attract customers and stay in business then they have to give the customer what the customer wants. Over the last five decades I have always wanted good service and still expect good service even today ,be it from a grocery store or any other business that wants me to part with my hard earned cash.

Groceries can be bought at newsagents , twenty four hour petrol stations, chemists, fish and chip shops and all manner of stores . How do they compete against the supermarkets ? In simple terms they provide a service. Given the fact that all these outlets are providing the same product (ie groceries) outstanding service is the only place where they can compete on a level playing field.

I therefore have no loyalty to any one store . I will choose the store that gives good service. If I only want a carton of milk then I will go to the closest store where I know I can pick up the milk and emerge two minutes later with the purchase. I see no point in choosing a supermarket to save maybe ten cents off the price of a carton of milk if that store makes me wait fifteen minutes in a queue before I am served.

Service is so important to me I resist the stores that invite me to do my own check out. I like to have someone scan my groceries and pack them for me in my cloth grocery bags. Some stores will scan your items but make you pack them . I do not like the mad scramble to pack groceries myself while some check out person scans them like she is feeding bullets into a machine gun. I end up with my groceries stuffed in my cloth bags in such a haphazard fashion that I vow only to buy a few items whenever I shop there. If you don't like the idea of self scanning your groceries and/or packing your groceries then vote with your dollar and patronize those stores good enough to employ friendly staff who greet you with a smile and add the human touch so lacking in businesses these days.

Forget chasing specials on a weekly basis . I often think if you save ten cents on a can of peaches you will spend an extra ten cents on some other item within the store. If you have chosen to shop at a grocery store offering specials then buy in bulk. Buy ten cans of peaches and save one dollar off the normal price. If toilet rolls are on special at forty cents off the normal price per pack then buy ten packs and save four dollars off the normal price. Spend that five dollars only on the groceries on your shopping list. If you have a lot of groceries to buy try to limit your shopping to once a fortnight and choose a store that has good specials and good service. That way you save on petrol ,take advantage of the specials on the day you shop and restrict the impulse purchase of items if you were to chase specials solely.

Its not hard to choose a grocery store. Its not hard to see why you keep going back to the same store time after time. You are a creature of habit and migrate to one store because it is easy and convenient to shop there. You put up with whatever they charge for groceries, you put up with standing in long queues with a trolley full of groceries and you put up with the shop assistant who glares at you when you dispute the price of a certain article.

Next time you go grocery shopping be adventurous and choose some other store. Keep trying different stores until you find the store that really is different. That's the type of store I choose. That's the one with people at the check out trained to give fast efficient service with a smile and put a value on your custom.

Learn more about this author, Barry Williams.
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