Macy’s' Lip Service to Omnichannel

My family calls it travel anxiety. I call it a realistic outlook of all the things that will go wrong while traveling. Whatever you name it, many people have this same travel-related stress before going away from home.

I had been planning a trip to a relaxing island off the coast of Fort Meyers for a few weeks. I was excited to kayak, hang out at the beach, and think about absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, the preparation for this supposedly chill vacation felt anything but relaxing. For days I worried about traffic to the airport, the flight getting delayed, traffic from the airport to the hotel, and the fact that I would have to check into this tiny, boutique hotel at one in the morning.

And the fact that I am only bringing a carry-on for a weeklong trip.

This may not seem like that big of a deal—after all, people use their carry-on bags for much lengthier stays. However, I have had the same carry-on bag since the third grade when my mother let me tag along on a trip to visit her childhood friend in Chicago. The night before our flight, I packed up the bag with my favorite stuffed animals and ran around the house, elated that I was going to travel by plane for the first time in my life.

That excitement has since worn off.

The bag that was the perfect size for an eight-year-old’s weekend getaway to Illinois is much smaller than the maximum size most airlines allow. It’s purple, has hair in it from all my childhood pets, and is quite adorable. I’m not ready to part with the bag permanently yet, but I needed a new one for this trip.

4AM, Day of Departure

This leads us to 4am, the day of the inevitable flight. Instead of sleeping, I was lying in bed, the light from my phone screen shining back at my face. I couldn’t stop thinking of all the things I should have prepared before this moment: Should I have bought more travel size shampoos? What about face wash? Should I bring aloe in case of a sunburn? (I ended up forgetting two out of three of these things).

I looked down at my tiny purple suitcase. It looked tired, nowhere near up to the challenge of this multiday, adult vacation. I glanced back at the phone and typed in, “carry-on suitcases near me.” Almost instantly, dozens of options piled up: “One-day shipping” “50% off” and “Same Day Pickup.” Many of these options, however, were farther away than I could travel before leaving for the airport in 12 hours.

I was about to shut down my phone to go back to sleep when I spotted it, right in front of my eyes, “Macy’s: Samsonite Suitcases.” The website indicated that there was a Macy’s store just a twenty-minute train ride away from me. That I had time for. I scrolled through a couple options, bookmarked a few, and shut my eyes to get another hour of sleep.

10AM, Day of Departure

Four hours later (and with brighter eyes), I opened the Macy’s website to discover that the options were far more limited for same-day pick-up than they appeared earlier in the day. However, we were now six hours before my estimated time of departure. I didn’t have time to start looking into other options - especially not if it involves going to the store and spending time picking out the best bag for me, I thought. I picked out a bag that was something like my fourth or fifth choice, a disappointing replacement for a bag that showed me so much love for so many decades, but it was the perfect size so it would have to do. I submitted my order and received an email letting me know I would be alerted once my order was ready. Hardly ten minutes later, I received the alert.

2PM, Day of Departure

Despite strategically planning my lunch break to accommodate time to go to Macy’s and pick up the suitcase, when the time came around, I couldn’t pull myself away. My partner, however, had the day off from work. If you remember the debacle with Concur, you will know that it also so happened that he totally owed me one.

I gave him a call, “Hey, what are you doing?”

“Nothing, trying to find something to do actually” he responded, clearly bored without the stress of his usual 7 to 7 job.

“Great, I have a task for you,” I explained my situation and, before I hung up the phone, the man was on his way. I hopped on Macy’s website to make sure it was okay to have someone unrelated to me pick up the suitcase. To my delight, it could not have been easier. After clicking two buttons and changing the contact phone number, my job was done. Now I just had to sit back and wait—and try not to worry about everything that could go wrong before I got it.

3:30PM, Day of Departure

My partner rolled in with my suitcase, immediately informing me that he was dissatisfied with the experience he had, the durability of the wheels, and the quality of the suitcase handle. On top of it all, in the stress of walking into a busy store, he had forgotten to check his confirmation email that gave general directions to the pickup location.

When he had walked into the store an hour earlier, he did not immediately see any signage for “Pickup Orders,” so he did a relaxed lap around the first store. The only help he could find was in a store map, indicating that the luggage checkout counter was on the third floor. He walked up to the third floor, and waited in a 15-minute checkout line with other disgruntled customers that regret coming to a Macy’s on a Tuesday afternoon. When it was finally his turn to speak to the singular cashier, the attendee informed him that he had to walk back to the other side of the store.

My partner walked back down three flights of stairs, ending up exactly where he started. After doing two more laps around the store,he finally saw a small sign in the bottom right corner of the store, obstructed by a countertop: “pickup orders here.”

After some light chit-chat, he was on his way.

So, the experience wasn’t perfect, but I got my suitcase. After all the trouble we went through, however, it seemed as if we would have been better off just going to the store and buying the suitcase in real-time. I got the worst of both worlds: I had to search for something online from a limited selection, travel to a store, get lost in the store, and then carry the luggage back to my apartment. If my partner and I had just gone to the store, rolled around a couple suitcases, and picked one, we probably would have saved an hour of time.

Yes, I have my suitcase and it fits all my items. The store technically delivered on its promise. But what is the point of having online services that are supposed to “streamline” the customer experience if they don’t work? Macy’s has the online chat, the option to order online and pick up on the same day, and the “easy” pick-up location. But none of these things felt particularly easy—or at least easier than just going in person.

Many customers choose options like this because they are seeking a fast, almost contactless experience. When brands fall short of delivering the expected solution, customers grow even more angry than if that option did not exist in the first place. In my own case, I sacrificed other parts of the experience that would have been helpful—seeing the bag, rolling it around, etc.— to get the purchase slower.

Brands have the ability to make life easier for the customers they serve. If they do not consider the customer intent, however, they will continuously fall short of satisfying the customers’ most basic user needs.

To read more on this topic, check out our recent article, Fixing Your 5 Most Impactful MarTech Imperfections.

Image Courtesy Macy's