Bread and butter customer service

Is it the end of bread and butter service? The increasing sophistication of marketing tools and techniques mean that many businesses have upped their game to improve the shopping experience they offer to their customers.
These activities can lead to the creation of extra layers of costs and inefficiencies which are not always fully valued by the customers. As a result they develop a bargain hunting instinct whereby they wait for heavy promotional periods and sales during which they are prepared to buy at what they believe is a fair price. In turn, such behaviour leads retailers to invest in yet more marketing tools to game the system and increase prices so that they can be better discounted later. Complicated and confusing. So wouldn't it be better to adopt a simpler approach, cut out the fuss and make sure that the service delivery to clients is of quality but simple enough so that it does not take too much value away from the product.

Picture courtesy of Peter's Yard with our thanks