Express Lane: Black Friday Hangover Edition

So there's one metric that all our stores have been trying to get up. Here's the thing: while it's got its merits, it doesn't necessarily increase sales. Our store has been down in this one single metric, but showing crazy growth in sales. We've been struggling hardcore because we're trying our best, but refused to stoop to gaming the system to artificially raise this number.

Corporate sees it differently, and have been rewarding other stores who do so. The top store in our area is down pretty significantly in sales, but because of this metric, everyone is singing their praises. It's painfully obvious based on their other numbers how they're doing this, but beyond inflating their numbers, they're not actually selling more stuff.

I recently decided to throw my hands up in the air. If this is what they want from us, this is what they'll get from us. I refuse to lose sight of the original intention, which was to provide better customer service, but if they want to play ball then we can play ball.

We started doing the exact same thing the other store does, and like magic it put us above goal. Ooh, suddenly we're being congratulated on a successful day. Whoop-de-doo, hooray, we did it, throw the parade! Except, what did we actually, meaningfully do? Nothing, except make the numbers.

/r/TalesFromRetail Thread