According to an article in the Daily Mail, "U.S.-style, hard-sell tactics" have crossed the ocean to British retailers. Although some of those practices mentioned included outright lying to a customer on how an apparel item looks on them to get a sale, it also included somewhat standard practices such as offering alternatives for desired items, suggesting complementary items for add-on sales, and recommending signing up for the store card for a discount.
"In the past few years, the U.K. seems to have changed from being a nation of shopkeepers that could barely be bothered to stop gossiping with their friends to acknowledge your presence, into a terrifying army of highly trained sales ninjas who will say and do anything to try to part you from your money," wrote the author Claire Coleman.
The article summarized six key "tricks" used
by sales associates:
- Saying you have to take a minimum number of items into the fitting room and deliberately giving you basics or items that co-ordinate with your choice in the hope you'll be tempted.
- Offering you tops, jackets or shoes to try on with the item you picked up to try to up-sell or increase the number of things you buy.
- Telling you that you can bring an item back if you don't like it to try to get a definite sale.
- Trying to get you to sign up for a store card so you can get a discount on the goods.
- Trying to sell you shoe care products to go with shoes, or jewelry to go with an outfit.
- Taking your details for a mailing list -- often they'll get
commission for doing this and you'll be bombarded with emails and mailings.
A worker at LK Bennett, a women's apparel store, said the tougher economy has led to more aggressive tactics. Sales assistants have always worked on commission, but Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were recently introduced for every member of the sales team.
"These are essentially sales targets for all areas, and they are monitored weekly," said the worker. "So sales have gone from being simply about supplementing your basic pay with commission, to something the job could be riding on. As a result, I know people who will try anything to get a sale."
Discussion Question: Which hard-sell retail tactics do you consider excessive and which ones are acceptable?