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Thread: Shopping ... and consumer choice/voice

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    Registered User Feelingpink's Avatar
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    Shopping ... and consumer choice/voice

    I realised today just how much I resent being "sold to" as if I don't have half a brain (as opposed to shopping - this I lurrvve!). I'll explain: I wanted a small, skinny latte at one of the major coffee chains and I'm the only person waiting to be served.

    SHOP GUY: What size would you like - medium?
    ME: I'd like the smallest, please
    SHOP GUY: Would you like any cakes or pastries with that?
    ME: No thanks

    Shop guy ignored what I'd said and made the 'medium' size with his colleague asking me to pay the 'medium' price.

    ME: I asked for a small
    SG's COLLEAGUE: Oh (glances at SG)
    SG: Sorry, I made you a medium, but you only have to pay for the smaller
    ME: You asked me what size I wanted and I told you. Why I didn't get what I asked for?
    SG: I'll make you a small if you like. (note he didn't answer my question)
    ME: Yes please, that would be great.

    Finally, I get what I asked for (three times) at the price I expected to pay.

    What actually got me riled here is that I've had the same scenario at two other branches of the same coffee chain. Do they think I'm an idiot and will either pay for a medium coffee - about an extra 20% in cost - either because I haven't got the confidence to ask for a small in the first place (I'm expected to agree to the 'medium' suggestion) or to unthinkingly pay for the larger coffee? I'm not going back to this chain of coffee shops any more.

    I also won't shop at one of the major supermarket chains because there are never enough check-out operators for the queues and if you go at off-peak times such as 9pm, there are essential products such as bread completely sold out. I'm sure the shareholders are happy with this 'efficient' situation but as a shopping experience, it's rubbish. I've started getting fruit & vege home delivered & other groceries at the Buddhist shop, at least some of the time.

    I resigned from my gym partly in favour of dancing and partly as a reaction to getting tired of hard sell. It wasn't enough that I paid a not insubstantial amount for basic membership ... everywhere you went you were being 'told' to get personal training (the loos, signs hanging off fitness equipment, notice boards). If I ever wanted a staff member to show me how to use equipment etc, it always seem to take ages to find someone. Again, the shopping experience was rubbish.

    Am I the only bolshy, reactionary consumer or are there others who feel the same? And, in the long-term, will my buying decisions have any effect?

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    Registered User ChrisA's Avatar
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    Re: Shopping ... and consumer choice/voice

    Quote Originally Posted by Feelingpink
    Am I the only bolshy, reactionary consumer or are there others who feel the same?
    Nope. You're not alone at all.

    However, I think the main reason it happens as you describe is because of the "pay peanuts, get monkeys" phenomenon, rather than any particular malice on the part of the SGs you describe.

    My guess would be they're trained to be able to handle only a limited number of scenarios. Occasionally you get one that also has intiative, but it's not that common.

    Chris

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    Re: Shopping ... and consumer choice/voice

    I've noticed that there is a particular problem in coffee places: they're doing a fairly boring job and their mind is not always fully on their work. It's similar in fast food places, but they tend to be much better at the script, and also they use the till to record your order, rather than trusting to memory. One coffee place I use quite often is fine about 90% of the time, but occasionally forget your order, or make you the wrong thing. On the plus side they've also forgotten to charge me on occasion. However I think the best policy for these places is to be very clear and proactive about what you want, and to use their terminology - often there is someone working the till and someone making the coffee - listen to what the till operator tells the barista to make.

    Every individual supermarket has its own patterns of custom which can lead to busy periods at the tills or empty shelves at particular times of the day/week. If you can't find a time to suit you then I think switching to another supermarket is the best thing to do. Another thing which irritates me about supermarkets is when they have either a non-intuitive aisle layout, or they keep changing it.

    I don't think posters really count as a hard sell, so perhaps you really are just bolshy and reactionary

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    Registered User Lynn's Avatar
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    Re: Shopping ... and consumer choice/voice

    Quote Originally Posted by Feelingpink
    Am I the only bolshy, reactionary consumer or are there others who feel the same? And, in the long-term, will my buying decisions have any effect?
    No, I get annoyed at these things too, mostly for the same reason - being treated as if I am not able to think for myself, pushy selling etc. Customer service has gone down a lot recently - my parents couldn't get any information yesterday in an electrical shop they were told 'they're all the same' about the items they asked about and told 'you just buy whatever we have in stock'! (They went elsewhere to make their purchase.)
    Quote Originally Posted by Feelingpink
    I resigned from my gym partly in favour of dancing and partly as a reaction to getting tired of hard sell.
    I thought of joining a local gym but the pushy attitude I got when making arrangements to go down and take a look put me off. I have a mind, I can think through options and make a decision for myself! And if someone tries to sell me a product or service but don't seem to recognise that or that I am the person who decides whether I purchase, then I'm going to go elsewhere.

    But I don't think it will make any difference in terms of increased respect for the customer. For two reasons - one is that there is so much advertising on TV, magazines, everywhere, that people accept most of it without question - but also because there is so much choice that I think sometimes people actually feel comfortable being told what to buy without having to think it through for themselves.

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    Registered User Feelingpink's Avatar
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    Re: Shopping ... and consumer choice/voice

    Quote Originally Posted by Lynn
    I thought of joining a local gym but the pushy attitude I got when making arrangements to go down and take a look put me off. I have a mind, I can think through options and make a decision for myself! And if someone tries to sell me a product or service but don't seem to recognise that or that I am the person who decides whether I purchase, then I'm going to go elsewhere.

    But I don't think it will make any difference in terms of increased respect for the customer. For two reasons - one is that there is so much advertising on TV, magazines, everywhere, that people accept most of it without question - but also because there is so much choice that I think sometimes people actually feel comfortable being told what to buy without having to think it through for themselves.
    What if businesses did take notice of a thinking minority of consumers - a kind of growing niche? I suspect (after a book I read yesterday about how women shop) that it would work really well for women ... that businesses which do offer a great shopping experience will have loyal customers. Perhaps this is just my dream.

    Maybe I'll start an ethical selling business league if there isn't one already, where businesses subscribe to a code of ethics about how they will sell? One where they present prices in an open way without hard-sell and offering decent customer service - the kinds of businesses you'd want to tell your mates about. I work for myself and like to think this is how I do business and this is how I keep clients.


    OK, rant over.

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    Registered User Lynn's Avatar
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    Re: Shopping ... and consumer choice/voice

    Quote Originally Posted by Feelingpink
    What if businesses did take notice of a thinking minority of consumers - a kind of growing niche? I suspect (after a book I read yesterday about how women shop) that it would work really well for women ... that businesses which do offer a great shopping experience will have loyal customers.
    It works for me - if I get good customer service I feel like a 'customer' of that shop and I go back again. It has a lot to do with the attitude of the staff - are they just there to process money through a till or to enhance the shopping experience? An eg - in a branch of Morgan - one sales assistant was in the fitting room helping with choice and size of garments for two girls - sale items at £6 with a 'buy one get one free' - not high priced, but the sales assistant was just fab. She wasn't just aiming to 'get a sale' - she clearly loved clothes! Because of that she was excellent at selling them and was enhancing all the fun of clothes shopping that women love. That sort of attitude not only gets sales, but keeps customers.

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    Registered User Bangers & Mash's Avatar
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    Re: Shopping ... and consumer choice/voice

    Quote Originally Posted by Feelingpink
    Am I the only bolshy, reactionary consumer or are there others who feel the same? And, in the long-term, will my buying decisions have any effect?
    I got out of a hard sell in a mobile phone shop by dropping a box of eggs in the middle of the shop floor.

    Not quite what I intended to do, but it got me out of the shop.

    Eggs are cheap. Carry eggs!

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