On the surface, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market looks like the type of company I’d enjoy profiling on The Responsible Marketing blog. They are saying all the right things: they believe in making fresh and high quality food affordable in every neighborhood, they are active in their communities, they treat their people well.
So it was no wonder L.A.-based interface design guru Jon Plummer and his wife were excited when a store opened in their neighborhood. But Fresh & Easy dropped the ball big time, and Jon blogged Fresh & Easy neither fresh nor easy.
Fresh & Easy should have done better. Way better. Jon’s a reasonable guy. He shared a number of things they did wrong and provided some input about how they could have made things smoother. Hopefully, Fresh & Easy is listening.
The moral of the story: When you are launching a new product or service, pay attention to all your contact points–especially if you are new and an unknown.
First impressions are indeed everything, and although the company may be able to redeem themselves, the people that visited the store when it opened will never forget how poorly the launch was executed. Imagine the swing in opinion if they would simply delivered on their brand promise.
On a completely unrelated note, if you are interested in interface design, poke around on Jon’s blog. You’ll find some interesting stuff there.
