Ahoy, Mateys!

When your customer experience is just so good, how do you possibly express your unrequited love for Trader Joe’s?

Perhaps you share food essentials with friends and family:

Or maybe you’re crazy enough to write an entire blog about Trader Joe’s...

Or maybe, just maybe...you’ll join their team (it is recruiting season nevertheless).

After getting testimonials from past, current and future (they may not know it yet) employees, I realized that Trader Joe’s truly is an experience beyond grocery shopping (shameless plug). Let me take you through the greatness of Trader Joe’s employment.

Here’s what your day would look like:

9:30am - Clock in and check out the daily log to see tasks for the day. The managers will have employees work in the departments that they prefer working in, except on rare occasions (Polis, 2011).

9:30-10am - Stock shelves

10:00am-12:00pm: Work the register. Everyone is usually only on register for 2 hours at a time since it is tiring and repetitive.

12:00pm-1:00pm: Take a half hour break and eat lunch.

1:00pm-3:00pm: Work the register. Employees are told to “perform great customer service which includes having small talk with the customers” (Polis, 2011).

3:00pm-5:00pm: Set up “satellite demo” and hand out free samples.

5:00pm: Clock out

What’s it really like working at Trader Joe’s?

The Trader Joe’s hierarchy is organized unlike many grocery retailers. There are more middle managers: each store has one "captain," or store manager; a team of "mates," or middle managers; and everyone else is "crew" (Gillett, 2017). While crew members are encouraged to take ownership of their success and mistakes, managers are always on hand to offer guidance or help when necessary (Gillett, 2017).

Aimee, a Trader Joe's employee, loves it and she'll tell you why the employee structure is so beneficial (bonus: enjoy her extra air time as the cinematography struggles to turn off the camera).

Don’t think you have the time with school?

Here’s one student’s story of how she balances her shifts:

"Stressed and embarrassed, I went into my store and explained my situation. 'Yeah, that's tough,' the mate said, and pulled up our schedule. 'All right, you want just tomorrow off, or the next day too?' When I apologized, he simply said, 'We'll figure it out. Get an A, OK?' and dismissed me with a high-five." (Gillett, 2017).

As happiness is higher on millenials’ agendas than past generations, along with a stronger desire for flexible schedules and a work life balance, Trader Joe’s reflects this culture in their work ethic (Babin, 225). In addition, millenials seek frequent praise and reassurance from their bosses, something this student definitely got! (225).

Some (not so secretive) secrets you would learn:

Ever wonder what the bells are for?

One bell ring calls for an employee to come up and help the register. Two bells means help of any kind and three bells calls a manager (Breslouer, 2015). Trader Joe's prides itself on providing an efficient grocery shopping experience; they know how important it is that their customer doesn't have to wait too long to check out, a key aspect of what drives the customer's experiential value (Angell, Lecture 4, September 13). Trader Joe's has established itself as a leader because of its excellent customer service. 


Don’t the employees miss out on the sample station though?     Not a chance. Employees enjoy their own grub in the break room. In order for employees to familiarize themselves with products and provide an attribute-based evaluation by “speaking genuinely about the flavors, textures, and overall tastiness of the food” (Babin, 269), they are constantly trying new products (aka they’re basically eating ALL day). And just like customers, Crew Members also definitely hit up the sample station: “I can’t even begin to tell you how many teeny tiny cups of coffee I chugged or samples I inhaled in a given shift,” one employee says (Raga, 2017).

I actually found it very difficult–if not impossible–to find a negative take on Trader Joe's employment. So just how does this tie into our consumer behavior? Based on consumer lifestyle segmentation, VALS consumers will find value in resources that allow them to self-express and excite (Babin, 123). So, if the employees enjoy what they do, are well-versed on the items they sell, and express the value it would bring to the customer, he/she will make purchase decisions based on attributes and experience. Thanks in part to supportive management and excited employees, customers at Trader Joe's consistently find themselves in "an experience beyond grocery shopping."

See ye next time, mate...fer another cup o' joe!

––––

References:

Babin. B., & Harris, E. (2016). Consumer Behavior 7. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Breslouer, Lee. “Trader Joe's Employees Dish on Their Secretive Employer.” Thrillist, 12 June 2015.

Gillett, Rachel. “Trader Joe's Voted One of the Best Places to Work.” Business Insider, 20 Sept. 2017.

Polis, Carey. “Food Informants: A Week In The Life Of A Trader Joe's Employee.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, Aug. 2011.

Raga, Suzanne. “14 Tasty Secrets of Trader Joe's Employees.” Mental Floss, 4 Aug. 2017.


Images (in order):

https://me.me/t/trader-joes

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d1/91/5d/d1915d7ce8be81b7e25e997f97e83941.gif

https://goo.gl/images/qchboz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sGqAsMwRAo

https://goo.gl/images/Pr84YY

An Experience Beyond Grocery Shopping

In 1967, the original Trader Joe started doing groceries a little differently. Not only did they don their crew in tasteful Hawaiian shirts but most importantly, they started packaging innovative, hard-to-find, great-tasting foods under the “Trader Joe’s” name (Our Story, 2017).

Pictured Above: High Quality Image of First Trader Joe's in Pasadena, California

The true question is: why do I send my friends a recurring calendar invite, stating the day and time, to meet at Trader Joe’s? Is it because of the store’s proximity to campus? Or perhaps it’s their enticingly cheap wine, affectionately named ‘The Two-Buck Chuck’. While these offerings certainly contribute to my affinity for the store, I find it’s the experiential value that draws me back every Sunday. By assessing what I get (things like quality and convenience) in terms of what I give (time and money), I have derived my value (Angell, Lecture 4, September 13). Trader Joe’s has established itself as a leading grocery retailer, not only by offering low prices but also by providing excellent customer experience (Gupta, 2014, p. 6).

Allow me to walk you through the Trader Joe’s experience:

You grab your car and take a six minute joy ride up Washtenaw. Once you arrive, you easily pull into a parking spot and walk toward the mothership–well not really; it’s actually just one of 467 stores nationwide (Sherman, 2017). You grab a cart and first pass through the flower section. While flowers may not be in your budget, the low prices help you picture them in your home. You grab a Phalaenopsis Orchid for the fabled price of $12.99 and continue on your journey. You then pick up some healthy, prepared meals for the week: salads, shrimp rolls, and quinoa galore. Next, you grab “teeny, tiny avocadoes” (because who needs huge, GMO infused avocados?). Along the way, you’ve added more essentials into your cart: eggs, milk, sugar. Then, you stop in awe.

“Oh no, is that what I think it is?” You accidentally exclaim audibly.

Your friend confirms, “The sample station!”

You walk over, pretend like you’ve never seen samples before and grab a piece of the pumpkin spice bread (note: you probably don’t even like pumpkin spice bread, but it’s free and, for that reason, also calorie-less). After taking a deep, contemplative breath in, you put it in your mouth and keep it there for a second, as if you’re a sommelier guessing a fine wine. You carry on to the left side of the table, where you get your cup o’ Joe and creamer (Again, the calorie thing does exist when it’s a sample, right?)

Pictured Above: Tasting Station at Trader Joe's

You’re feeling pretty good at the moment; you’ve gotten the week’s necessities and you’re well fed. You throw some more snacks into the cart and head toward the checkout. Your work here is done. The cashier empties your cart for you...but wait! You realize you’ve never tried that mango salsa that the cashier is about to scan. How do you know if it is even any good?

“How’s this sals–"

Before you can finish your question, the cashier is already pulling out a plastic spoon. While every employee has tried the new products, he lets you decide for yourself (Cullum, 2017). He opens up the jar and gives you a taste. You like it; you’ll take it. He gets his coworker’s attention to grab you an unopened jar from the aisle. At this point, you’re thinking to yourself–I’m a college student; I share plastic vodka bottles at tailgates with dozens of students I’ve never met. You spare him the details and instead just say: “That won’t be necessary.”

Your work here is done. You pack up your car and head home.

I rest my case. You shop for the personalized experience, the endless samples, the good prices, and yes, the thrill of sending a weekly calendar invite. You’ve had a productive half hour, and now it’s time to get back to that study room you reserved. Until next time, my fellow Joe lovers.

*Note: If you do need more convincing on why you should start shopping at Trader Joe's, check out this piece on Trader Joe’s inside intel

Or 

This intellectually stimulating video of a random couple's experience at Trader Joe's

Sources:

Cullum, Erin. “8 Things You Never Knew About Trader Joe's, Straight From a Former      Employee.” POPSUGAR Food, 2 Oct. 2017.

Gupta, Sunil. “Core Curriculum: Creating Customer Value,” Harvard Business Publishing. 30 Jun 2014.

“Our Story.” Our Story | Trader Joe's, 2017.

“Our Story.” Timeline | Trader Joe's

Sherman, Elisabeth. “Trader Joe's 50th Anniversary Celebrations Hit Stores This Weekend.”      Food & Wine, 17 Aug. 2017.

"Trader Joe's Experience." YouTube, 8 Sept. 2017.

Trader Joe's Image on Pixabay - Coffee, Grocery Store, Store.