I remember SM! Also BEST Products. One or the other had a big framed photo of a kindly old couple (the founders) by the checkout - apparently you were supposed to believe it was still a mom & pop store.
By now I hope that people are smart enough to provide false names, information, etc. to retailers.
When ‘customer loyalty’ schemes began in earnest (those barcode cards which retailers view as marketing gold), many users posted/shared their barcodes (which linked to bogus addresses) and encouraged others to copy same. Of course the retailers, who thought they had struck gold in terms of customer data but were simply too cheap and lazy to pay for proper research, reacted with horror and posted all sorts of dire warnings about sharing the barcodes, saying that one’s personal data could be compromised. But if the codes corresponded to bogus data where was the risk? And if the retailers were holding up their end of the privacy bargain where was the risk (again)?
Apparently service, follow-up and loyalty earned rather than demanded are 20th century concepts. When these retail Titanics go down will anyone hold the marketing wizards to account?
The photo of the old couple would have been Harry and Mary Zimmerman, who founded Service Merchandise. By all accounts a warm, generous Jewish couple from Nashville.
Unfortunately when they retired their son Raymond took over the business and essentially ran it into the ground. Had the misfortune to meet him once. A real piece of work!