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Here’s some tips as you go forth Christmas shopping on how to avoid those sneaky retail clerks who are after your money. \u00a0 I disagree with #9, the clearance area isn’t a “purposeful disaster” necessarily, usually it’s just that the people picking it through it make such a mess that it’s not worth the trouble to keep straightening. \u00a0 Plus, people tend to gravitate towards piles that have been picked through because that tells them it’s a popular area with other shoppers.<\/p>\n
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Despite the ever-looming threat of online commerce, analog retail stores still have plenty of fight left in them: Consumers are expected to spend more than $630 billion<\/a> in seasonal purchases this year, and there promises to be no shortage of semi-controlled chaos (and profits) when stores open for Black Friday.<\/em><\/p>\n If you\u2019ve ever wondered how you managed to spend twice as much as you planned, you may want to consider the shrewd retail employees you\u2019re up against. Here’s what we discovered talking to the men and women who ring you up.<\/em><\/p>\n Retail employees\u2014particularly when it comes to big-ticket items\u2014are trained to steer conversations in ways that have you saying, \u201cI have to have this.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou have to be a step ahead in the conversation,\u201d says Larry, a former store supervisor at a northeast Best Buy. \u201cIt\u2019s about getting them to admit what they want and controlling the answers you want out of them. It\u2019s a big mind game.\u201d Once you begin to nod your head and agree that a $500 sound system is a better value than the one marked for $1000\u2014and if you came in wanting the $300 option, that’s still a sales upgrade\u2014their job is done. \u201cBut the second the customer takes over and leads you, you begin to lose the sale.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Gone are the days when customers can haggle over prices for most goods\u2014but that doesn\u2019t mean everyone gets the same deal. Polite, mannered customers are \u201c200 percent\u201d more likely to walk out the door with a great deal than someone throwing a tantrum, Larry says. \u201cIt\u2019s not that we can necessarily adjust prices, but in terms of getting a call when a sale is on, or someone going the extra mile, you get more bees with honey.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n A recent study from the University of British Columbia revealed<\/a> that shoppers looking at high-end items might actually be more likely to buy when staff play hard to get. Marketing Professor Darren Dahl discovered that rude or \u201csnobby\u201d salespeople made people want to share their exclusivity by purchasing luxury goods.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe indecisive customers are the worst,\u201d says Kay, an employee for a major discount apparel chain. \u201c[Like] still shopping while in line, and telling the cashier to add and remove stuff.\u201d If you haven\u2019t settled on your selection by the time you arrive at the register, expect to be put on the not-nice list.<\/em><\/p>\n While this can vary from store to store, the 5 to 6 p.m. window might be the worst time to try and get some real help. \u201cThis is during shift changes, which may result in closed tills and more part-time associates helping customers,\u201d Kay says. \u201cThe full-timers may care more, as the job is more of a career.\u201d Instead, try shopping closer to opening, when employees are heavily caffeinated.<\/em><\/p>\n Despite the fact that no retailer would ever recommend judging a customer based on appearance, salespeople do it anyway. \u201cIt happens,\u201d Larry says. \u201cYou can rush to judgment, thinking because someone is wearing ratty clothes, all they want is a cable.\u201d But that can backfire: Once, a customer stopped in to Larry\u2019s Best Buy unshaven and covered in paint and filth. \u201cHe spent twenty grand. He was painting the room he was going to put his new television in.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n While the image of the forlorn apparel employee picking up after the wreckage of a clothes-tossing crowd gets a lot of play, the reality is that stores need you to make a mess: Touching items is a key component<\/a> of making the move from contemplation to purchase. Holding up that sweater\u2014even if you discard it in a heap\u2014is better than not touching it at all. (This is also why many apparel displays are on flat tables: They want you to put your stuff down so you have two hands to fondle that shirt.)<\/em><\/p>\n Many retail Redditors have expressed frustration<\/a> at the apparent confusion some customers have regarding changing rooms and restrooms. Horror stories abound of salespeople entering clothing areas and finding fecal matter. Why do customers treat the rooms like bus stop stalls? \u201cI cannot comprehend,\u201d one worker said,\u201d why anyone would want to do this.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n If you\u2019ve ever given up trying to make sense of the hurricane that is the clearance section, you\u2019re doing exactly what they want. Stores often leave the clearance area in disarray in order to draw customers back to the neat, organized displays featuring current (and regularly priced) merchandise.<\/em><\/p>\n In his examination of shopping habits, Why We Buy, retail advisor Paco Underhill observed that customers examining a display in a congested area of a store were likely to experience a \u201cbutt brush\u201d\u2014an unintentional collision of backsides as other customers squeezed through. After a couple of brushes, they\u2019d move on without picking out an item, apparently discouraged by the physical contact. Stores that relocated the displays to avoid the scrapes saw sales go up.<\/em><\/p>\n Depending on the deal the retailer has with a manufacturer, that $700 television might not net as much profit margin as a $600 television\u2014so don\u2019t be surprised if you get down-sold rather than up-sold. And don\u2019t think a premium brand is necessarily in their sights. According to Larry, one major electronics manufacturer was so demanding about displays and inventory management that sales reps preferred not to even deal with their products. \u201cThere was almost no margin and we didn\u2019t believe in the product,\u201d he says. \u201cYou could get more for less.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Looking at an expensive television or high-end outfit? It\u2019s likely to be priced at $1999 rather than $1,999 because the latter would take longer to say. Researchers have discovered<\/a> that more syllables in a price tag means a customer may see it as being more expensive\u2014even if it\u2019s simply printed differently.<\/em><\/p>\n Customers, Larry says, are frequently impatient and just want salespeople to get through their canned pleas for store credit, product demos, or add-ons. The problem: They\u2019re not doing it because they like hearing themselves talk. \u201cSomeone in the store told them they had to. It\u2019s going to happen one way or another, so if you just listen, it\u2019ll go faster.\u201d If you\u2019re in a weekend rush, well, join the club. \u201cIn the end, they don\u2019t want to be there selling a television at 7:30 on a Saturday, either.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here’s some tips as you go forth Christmas shopping on how to avoid those sneaky retail clerks who are after your money. \u00a0 I disagree with #9, the clearance area isn’t a “purposeful disaster” necessarily, usually it’s just that the people picking it through it make such a mess that it’s not worth the Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-retail-employees"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1407"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1438,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1407\/revisions\/1438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. THEY HAVE JEDI MIND TRICKS.
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n2. NICE GETS THE BEST PRICE<\/em><\/h4>\n
3. \u2026 BUT RUDE SALESPEOPLE MIGHT HAVE YOU SPENDING MORE.<\/em><\/h4>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\niStock<\/div>\n4. THEY HATE IN-LINE SHOPPERS.<\/em><\/h4>\n
5. SHOPPING AROUND 5 P.M. MIGHT BE A BAD IDEA.<\/em><\/h4>\n
6. THEY MIGHT PROFILE YOU.<\/em><\/h4>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\niStock<\/div>\n7. THEY KIND OF WANT YOU TO LEAVE A MESS.<\/em><\/h4>\n
8. THERE MIGHT BE POO IN THE CHANGING ROOMS.<\/em><\/h4>\n
9. THE CLEARANCE AREA IS A PURPOSEFUL DISASTER.<\/em><\/h4>\n
10. BRUSHING BUTTS IS BAD FOR BUSINESS.<\/em><\/h4>\n
11. THEY DON’T NECESSARILY WANT TO SELL YOU ON THE MOST EXPENSIVE THING.<\/em><\/h4>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\niStock<\/div>\n12. THEY MIGHT NOT USE COMMAS IN THEIR PRICES.<\/em><\/h4>\n
13. IT\u2019S EASIER IF YOU JUST LET THEM TALK.<\/em><\/h4>\n
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