The philosophy of ASDA (Wal-Mart) supermarkets is easy to grasp. Their advertising is aimed primarily at young couples. It has little to do with the good looks and vitality of young people. When a couple, at an early stage of their relationship, start shopping they may spend say €30 - €50 a week, which is hardly a fortune.
The marketing departments of supermarkets wisely have their calculators out. Without allowing for inflation they figure out that, if they keep youngsters happy, then when they have children they will spend €5,200 a year; you can buy a car with that kind of money. Over 40 years this sum will morph into €208,000. That is what I call business shrewdness; it is the value of customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Banks were similarly minded when offering inducements to students to open accounts. Today’s penniless student is tomorrow’s doctor, solicitor or schoolteacher. They and their families will need a mortgage, loans, insurance, and much else. The impoverished student will eventually represent about €75,000 - €200,000 business each year.
I was reminded of this when my wife and I visited a Spanish restaurant on the Costa del Sol and explained that we wanted just a bottle of wine between us. We were told by the restaurant’s meet and greet concierge that tables were for diners only, despite there being a number of empty tables.
It was no big deal; we went instead to a competitor across the plaza. There we were treated as valued customers and in future will dine there regularly. As we enjoyed our drinks we could see several of the earlier restaurant’s tables remained empty as were the heads of the proprietors.
The smart operator would have welcomed and made a fuss of us; not for the paltry profits from a €10 bottle of wine. No, they would have considered this a golden opportunity to showcase their restaurant and establish friendship with potentially regular customers.
Perhaps they thought we were tourists; not that this should make a difference for tourists stay and spend; they also recommend and return year after year. As it happens we are not tourists. We live here; we are in business, we entertain regularly; family, friends and business clients. Imagine the value of such clients they turned away.
As I have said so often; there is nothing much wrong with Mediterranean Spain; it can tick every box imaginable; run rings around competitors because of its many advantages. Sadly, it cannot survive, let alone prosper, when there are so many business proprietors not fit for purpose. They spoil it not only for themselves but for the Spanish and local economies.
Robert Louis Stephenson, the great writer, once observed: ‘Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary’. He obviously hadn’t had any dealings with many business owners in Spain.