French retail chain Darty creates great Web 2.0 service

In 1973, some 35 years ago (!), the consumer goods retail chain “Darty” expressed what is still their mantra today: “Le Contrat de Confiance” or “The Trust Contract”. Their promise was that they would never let their customers down and each time one bought a hair dryer, a HiFi system or a refrigerator, one was actually given a booklet with the detail of their commitments (every French household has a collection of Darty booklets).

Darty is now part of the British retail group Kingfisher Plc, alongside B&Q, Castorama, Brico Depot and Hornbach -to name some of the best known sister companies. But they have maintained their obsession for Customer Satisfaction: they have relentlessly continued to communicate on this mantra. As a result, in France, the words “Contrat de Confiance” literally belong to Darty.

Well, they have recently taken the concept a step further, using today’s Web 2.0 technology : last time I bought something from a Darty store in Paris (and I don’t live in Paris, but in Rennes, Brittany, 200 miles away), I was presented with “another loyalty card” I thought to myself.

I shrugged my shoulders until the salesman explained to me that if I went to Darty’s web site, I could access my private area, which already contained the details of all the products I had bought from Darty in the last 5 years.

If I can’t find the user manual, it is there, waiting for me to download in PDF format, via a link under the photo of the product. If it breaks down, I don’t even need to look for the warranty or invoice…it’s all in the system. And of course, if I want to buy a new accessory, I can order it directly from their site. They have preselected everything that goes with my product.

Everything is just one click away…simple and friendly. I can’t wait to buy my next item from Darty…

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