The Woolies Debacle!

Woolies is a strong SA brand but EISH! so many people lately have been asking the question ‘what the hell is going on with stock, or rather the lack of it!’ Woolies is one of the few brands in SA that I think verges on encouraging a MSP-Me Selling Proposition these are brands that are so trusted they become community owned. In my mind it was the one brand that was least afraid of its consumers, that’s until this communication debacle. Their local site communication has clearly not been good on what appeared to be a ‘stock shortage’ in many areas. I was somewhat relieved to see that the ‘problem’ is a logistical change to a new warehouse, as reported by The Star (Edition 6, Monday 14th May) – Woolworths unveils new, state-of-art storage.

I was tired of hearing the moans from people with comments like ‘typical SA’ and it’s the ‘Engen store roll out’ that’s the problem. It confirmed my belief that consumers simply do not trust companies anymore. I am disappointed that Woolies nearly fell into the cold transaction trap [hey customers won’t notice…wrong!]. Communication is key people! Talk to us! We prefer that! We want to know that Companies are human and make mistakes at times 2!