Here’s How Babies R Us Got My Email Address

My wife and I made a rare trip out with out four-month old son, William, with the intent of picking him up a Pack and Play type of Play Yard device. Being frugal shoppers, the first thing my wife and I saw when we entered our local Babies R Us store was what seemed like endless racks of clearance outfits and shoes. Those items were an additional 40% off, according to the printed signage. But a hand-written note on each sign indicated that deal was only good with a coupon.

So where could I get a coupon, and how could I save an additional 40% on a cleared-out size 18-month New York Giants football jersey? As we walked the aisles in search of other items, I went to the Babies R Us mobile site with no luck. So I asked a sales clerk, and she told me we would have either got the coupon in the mail (which we didn’t, even though we’re new parents with an active registry and my wife is registered in their rewards program) or via email (which my wife didn’t).

When I got home, I searched the Babies R Us site, found out how to register for email updates, and gave the merchant my information. I hoped that even though I missed out on this particular coupon, I could get one for the next go-around, and other deals for our son.

Then I checked the Babies R Us Facebook page. And lo and behold, a link to the coupon was there for the grabbing.

I’m glad I got the coupon, but I’m not happy about the steps I needed to take to get that discount (which I’m hoping to take advantage of before its Jan. 23 expiration date).

But I wasn’t happy about how the offer was communicated, and it was a classic case of the sales and marketing channels not being is synch:

• The sales clerk told me the coupon was delivered by USPS and email, when it was also in fact available via Facebook (and I didn’t check to see if it was a tweeted offer).
• The offer isn’t for 40% off clearance prices with a coupon, as the in-store signage indicated. It’s for 40% off all clearance items that could fit in a recyclable tote, which you get when you redeem the coupon at the customer service desk. Maybe that’s not important when you just want that Giants jersey, but how many pairs of shoes could I stuff in the bag as well?

If the intent of the in-store signage was to get me to give Babies R Us my email address, then the plan worked. If the plan was to make me jealous of those customers who could take advantage of the exclusive deal, that worked, too.

But I’m sure we were not the only customers without-an-exclusive-coupon mode, since that part of the store was rather deserted on an otherwise busy day. And I may have been the only curious shopper who asked about the coupon, or was the only customer who wasn’t to embarrassed to ask.

At the National Retail Federation’s annual conference last week, several merchants talked about giving exclusive deals to their best customers (i.e. those customers who gave up their email address or follow them on social media). Now secret sales have been going on for a while with a number of retailers – get a coupon in the mail or email and take advantage of the sale. But I’ve never seen it communicated (or not communicated) in-store in this manner.

Rewarding your best customers is okay, but shaming your newbies is not.