Smartypants at the Wharton School of Business surveyed shoppers to find out what pissed them off most about the in-store experience, and it turns out it’s mainly the sales staff. Here’s the top 10 problems that shoppers said bothered them to the point that they wouldn’t go back to the store.
10. Sales Associate (SA) A ignored you – did not say hello, smile, make eye contact 21
9. SA didn’t listen when explaining what you wanted 22
8. Product/item was out of stock 22
7. SA not very polite, courteous 24
6. SA not interested in helping you find what looking for 27
5. SA insensitive to long check-out lines 27
4. SA acted like you were intruding on their time/conversations 29
3. SA followed, pestered when you wanted to browse on own 30
2. Could not find anyone when needed help 31
1. SA had ‘that’s not my department’ attitude 32
Does this hold true for you? What most turns you off when you go out shopping?
Shopper Research Pinpoints Loyalty, Problems [ifoAppleStore] (Thanks to Jgodsey!)
What Customers Expect Sales Associates To Contribute Toward The In-Store Experience (Powerpoint)
(Photo: Getty)
More From Consumerist
-
Annual Consumer Complaints Survey Says Car Problems Really Grind Our Gears
-
Report: Sears Is Failing Because It Spends Next-To-Nothing To Maintain Stores
-
The World May Never Know Which Company Filed This Lawsuit To Block Consumer Safety Complaint
-
Lawsuit Seeks To Block New York City Ban On Big Sodas
-
Whole Foods Organic Grapes: Now With Free Black Widow Spiders
@anyanka323: I do get how hard working retail is, as someone who worked retail 5 years. But if you cant muster up something passing for a)empathy for the customer, and b)pride in your job, then its time to get out. The days off problem you describe, its the nature of the beast. I hate to say it, and I am not trying to be mean, but if you dont like it, get out.
@Beki: Yes, lets just let lousy employees get away with being lousy. Seriously people, pride in your job. Does no one have it?
3 for me. I avoid high-end stores because they harass me. Yes, I am browsing, but I’m also an impulse shopper.
@sixseeds: I agree with you about complaining to management instead of the staff. Unfortunately, both times I have tried to do so (1 different stores) I’ve been summarily ignored. It’s frustrating!
When it comes to SAs helping me, I have a very simple rule: Don’t find me, I’ll find you.
Unless I need help, please don’t incessantly ask if I do. Thank you.
Rudeness stinks, but also over familiarity.
Even though I go to a place of business every day doesn’t mean I necessarily want the fourth wall broken down. I prefer to remain anonymous.
I’m not one for much small talk.
@statnut:
What are they getting away with? I can’t imagine minimum-wage retail employees going home at night and cackling, “Mwa ha ha, another $20 in the bank and a day’s worth of dissatisfied customers. My evil plan is a success!”
I don’t ever stop shopping somewhere because of Sales Associates. If I’m ever so uninformed before going in for a purchase that I need a SA, then I’m already in the wrong. I keep my questions simple (“where’s this/that/the bathroom?”) and that’s it. If I need an opinion or advice, I have an internet full of demographics to help me.
I never talk to certain stores’ SAs anymore, though. For instance, the Borders staff. You use a kiosk and it says “Book not on shelves, ask front desk.” You ask at the front desk and someone walks you over to a kiosk and punches your search in. I learned my lesson. Don’t substitute an in-store computer for an in-store robot.
@Beki: Treating customers like crap is getting away with something. And if they hate the money they make that much, its time to start looking for a better job. Again, I worked retail for a while, and I always made sure to take the time to help a customer, and if it was something I couldnt help with, got the manager. Being nice and trying your best to satisfy a customer isnt that hard.
@chrisjames: I’ve stopped shopping places, temporarily at least, because of poor SA. I only came back to said store(in this case EB games) when the lousy employee was no longer at that store, and I suspect fired.
One thing that I really loathe is when I’m standing in line for ages and a new checkout lane opens. Guess who gets to be first in that lane? Not those of us who have been standing there forever and are now trapped in the middle of the line, but the people who JUST WALKED up and are standing behind me. I wish they would look at me or the other person in front of me and say “Please come to my lane” instead of it being last-in-old-line-first-in-new-line.
@ImpossibleCheeseburgerPie: Hehe, I always hated when people would do that kind of stuff when I worked as a cashier. I would sometimes say something to them but, at Wal-mart, you would also have the problem of management sending people with a whole cart of items to your express lane so they didn’t have to wait, meanwhile, you now have a line behind that person of annoyed people who only have two or three items in their hands.
I think I’ve become less patient with stupid customers and incompetent sales people now that I have worked in retail because I know from experience what you should and shouldn’t do. I think a lot of people who work at those places just don’t care.
Customer service matters but it is not the only thing that matters. High prices have kept me away from some stores.
3. SA followed, pestered when you wanted to browse on own
Comedienne Margaret White once told an overly-attentive SA: “If I wanted to shop with a friend, I’d have brought one.”
Walked into a Circuit City store a few days ago. No customers to speak of.
I was immediatly surrounded by 4 young sales associates all introducing themselfs like a bunch of little teeny bopper twits. None of the four was helpful.
To add insult to injury the item I was there to purchase was not in stock even though their Web site specificly stated the item was in stock at this store. This turned out to be an obvious bait and switch which I expected in the first place because the price was too good to be true.
I did make a minor purchase, but will never return to that store again.
I hate when stores are impossibly disorganized. You expect to spend an afternoon digging around when you’re at TJ Maxx, but not at Macy’s. One of the many reasons I don’t shop at Forever 21. I love Nordstrom though!
Any CVS in the downtown DC area is guaranteed to be the worst CVS you’ve ever shopped at. It’s like the sales associates are volunteering their time. They look at you like you’re the biggest piece of shi* on earth and how dare you ask them where the shoe polish is. Worst. Ever.
@statnut:
Not at all.
@ceejeemcbeegee (just debatin’ not hatin’):
This isn’t complicated. Don’t bother me unless I bother you. Be available to be bothered unless you are currently being bothered by someone else.
I hate being treated like a thief when I go into a store looking to buy something. I am a reluctant consumer at best, but when I need something I am intent on buying, not just browsing. (And certainly not stealing!)
It’s a slap in the face when I’m standing at checkout holding a purchase and the associates all pointedly ignore me. It’s just as bad when they infer in not-so subtle ways that I am a shoplifter. I just leave when that happens because it is really embarrassing for me.
You want conversation, get a friend.
I’m there to ring your purchases, not validate your existence.
salesfloor people who pounce on me as soon as I step into the door piss me off the most.
My local radioshack’s employees do this & I HATE IT!
Leave me the frick alone until I ask for help.
My #1 issue with SA:
When they act like you are trying to take food out of their baby’s mouth by getting them to stand up and honor a policy, sales add, warranty, or use some common sense.
I’m not talking about a Mom & Pop set up but a SA at a large store. I mean it’s not their money and as long as they are just honoring an add or policy to the benefit of the consumer, it is not going to affect their pay check. In fact, it will create a loyal customer.
All, except #3. SA seems to have better things to do than follow me around and attempt to attend to my needs.
The source of all of these complaints is that working in retail generally isn’t a job worth having anymore. Ergo, the very concept of having a professional sales staff in a retail setting is a total throwback. Offer a crap schedule, low wages, no benefits, and little job security and it’s no accident that everyone working in the store is always an entry-level employee.
I live near what is quite possibly the best hardware/power tool store in the country: 7 Corners Hardware . At any given time you can get help from an employee who has worked there 10-20 years. They have expert knowledge of their product. On several occasions they have steered me towards tools that were not what I walked in intending to buy that ended up being much better buys.
My point is: It wasn’t always, and doesn’t have to be, the case that you had to do product research on your own and rely on sales staff for nothing more than directions. It’s really a just a subtle way retailers have shifted costs to consumers. They get to hire people with no specialized knowledge and pay them $8/hr, and it becomes your job to be an expert on HDTVs, refrigerators or saws.
I guess customer service has tanked a lot in recent years, which is not surprising. I worked retail around the year 2000 and it was not as bad as people describe it as today. Other than the grumpy people at xmas time and the occasional bad customer which is to be expected it was not bad at all. We always did our best to help the customer though.
As someone who just helped to open a new retail store with my company, I was really shocked at the level of pay and lack of experience of the retail employees. In the other established store, there is a long standing employee who knows everyone by name and everyone loves going there.
Not so true of the new store, it is like every other store, low paid salespeople that really have no idea of what is going on or what the product is. The customers are not loyal. Meanwhile our management expects miracles out of the new store. Go figure.
I hate it when sales associates cling to you like hemorrhoids when all you want to do is look around.
I have a new way of dealing with them. Consider this scenario:
Sales rep: “Can I help you find anything?”
Me: “No, just looking”
Sales rep: “Do you have any questions?”
Me: ‘Actually, yes, do you have anything I like?”
Sales rep: “What do you like?”
Me: “I like it when people leave me alone.”
@Buran: I completely agree. I also walk when they don’t make eye contact. Then I make a phone call on my way to the place across the street.
@DrGirlfriend: I don’t both with in-store management any more. You have to figure that if the staff is that badly trained, the manager is the reason for it. If that’s true, then complaining to them makes no difference. Let the managers boss tell them they’re doing a crappy job of training their personnel.
@Maulleigh: “May I help you?”
“No Thanks, I just looking.”
“Okay, let me know if you need anything.”
Please tell me that is not too much of a social interaction for you, because that’s usually all it takes.
I really don’t understand why people have this need for the minimum wage worker to be ‘nice’ to them.
Don’t they realize that any sort of ‘how are YOUUU today?’ and ‘thank you SOOO much for your purchase!!’ is just forced panderism in the first place?
It’s one insanity-step away from being offended by not receiving your automated ‘thank you for your business’ print out from the ATM machine or gas pump.
In both cases, the cheapest possible method of receiving my money was given zero choice in whether or not to thank me… so what value should I place on those words?
That’s just how I see it.
@sgodun:
“I was recently in a PathMark supermarket picking up basics. I went to the express lane since I had only three items. The cashier said NOTHING to me, never looked up at me or anything. I could have had a fresh roasted turkey balanced on my head and she wouldn’t have noticed. What occupied her attention? She was on her cell phone with one person (via a hands-free device) AND she was text messaging with another. I pointed her out to the manager as I was leaving and made sure he know that I would be shopping elsewhere from that point on.”
I will absolutely agree with you that the cashier was without question rude, but I am not buying stuff for a conversation. I don’t know about you, but for I think I speak for most people in that for purchases I want it to be done quickly and efficiently. In other words, I am not here for small talk. I want to get straight to business. Scan my items, swipe my card, give me a receipt. Some people may think that is cold and impersonal, but the only reason I want someone to strive up idle chatter is if we are waiting for a manager (refunds, void a transactions, etc.). For most routine transactions I just want the cashier to be accurate, but as quick as possible without damaging my merchandise.
@cordeduroi:
“I really don’t understand why people have this need for the minimum wage worker to be ‘nice’ to them.”
Provided your interactions with employees are efficient and not offensive I don’t care if they give me a phoney “thank you.” The best way they can thank me for their business is help me finish my shopping quickly, but effectively. I could care less if they appreciate my business if they aren’t good at finding products for me. I would rather have a jack ass(within reason) that is efficient.
We all know in the vast majority of cases that most employees would never greet you like that if you met them anywhere else. They are strangers in the vast majority of cases. You expect them to be respectful obviously, but beyond that I don’t get what people are expecting.
@ogman: “I don’t both with in-store management any more. You have to figure that if the staff is that badly trained, the manager is the reason for it. If that’s true, then complaining to them makes no difference. Let the managers boss tell them they’re doing a crappy job of training their personnel.”
I think the better reason to not waste your time has to do with that in most cases the poor quality of employees is often beyond their control. In corporate owned stores managers often have little control over wages or even how many dollars they have for a labor budget. In other words, he or she may love working at “fill in the blank” know their stores products and policies inside out and even know how to train people on the products, but they are just doing the best with the employees they are able to acquire for the wages that they can afford to pay.
If you have 85% annual turnover and corporate caps the number of people you are allowed to work full time you will virtually never get most people fully trained about every product. This is especially true in the electronics industry. If they aren’t putting several hours into learning about the industry’s new products you will always be behind. This is why there are so few good consumer electronics stores. The stores don’t budget enough to have people who are serious about their products.
Stores generally fall into two general categories: stores that attempt to compete on price and stores that try to compete on service. People shopping at WalMart expecting smart employees are smoking something and it isn’t tobacco. If you want high end service you go to a high end specialty retail store. There is no other departments if you have a very narrowly focused store. In addition, there are never long line and the employee in a smaller niche store have a larger impetus not to screw up a transaction. At Wal-Mart if you mess up one customer generally no big deal another sucker will walk into your department in the next 15 minutes and hopefully you will do it right this time. In a small store alienating your customers can threaten the whole stores livelihood as well as your own. The reality is, most people aren’t willing to pay for that.
@rjhiggins: “@winter_in_asia: It’s not dumb. It’s a survey. Some people want to be left alone; others want service to be there when they want it. So of course both show up in the survey. Not hard to grasp, really.”
Apparently you have never worked retail if you don’t believe that people often want contradictory things. I will agree that a lot of the people that want one type of behavior want the opposite, but some customers really do contradict themselves. I had no customer who wanted a product I told him I would be right back and he said he would be right there. I came back five minutes later I don’t see him anywhere. I walk 100 feet to one side of the department and then all the way to opposite side (I worked in a huge store). After spending 5 minutes looking for him, I asked my supervisor if he saw where the customer went, he said no so we took the product back to lockup(it was a small, but expensive item) and twenty minutes later the guy said “well where is the item?” I told told him that spent 5 minutes looking for him and he said I was right there and I told him I went back to exactly where you were and you were there and I looked for you. Turns out he was hiding behind a display several aisles down. My supervisor who originally saw the customer points out that I did make an honest effort to find the customer (contrary to the customers protests to the contrary) and apologized for the delay. After the customer left he admitted to me that he thought the guy was a jerk somehow thinking I magically knew where he moved to a non-intuitive location.
I could go all day on other examples, but the point that some customers really do want thinks that are contradictory.
If the cashier asks for my name, address, phone number, etc., so he or she can find me in the database before scanning my items, my blood boils. Can’t help it. I just want to buy the item and gtf out and on with my life.
Mainly it’s the delay. I should not have to pay time and money like this.
Then it’s also the fact that they are going to sell that information, if given the chance.
and if there is a line to buy, because of this data-frisking, often I will leave.
and if the cashier plays dumb when I say “no thanks,” for sure I won’t return.
The killer is I get this treatment mainly at independent retailers that otherwise I’d want to support.
@SAugsburger: If you don’t like the pay, don’t take the job. If you don’t do the job well, expect to be fired. Stop whining that your entry-level job doesn’t pay managerial wages and do the job well enough to earn the pay you want. Finally, know that if you try to make me miserable because your current employment doesn’t meet your delusional expectations, I will do what I can to see that you have much more time to level up in World of Warcraft.
@JiminyChristmas:
“The source of all of these complaints is that working in retail generally isn’t a job worth having anymore. Ergo, the very concept of having a professional sales staff in a retail setting is a total throwback. Offer a crap schedule, low wages, no benefits, and little job security and it’s no accident that everyone working in the store is always an entry-level employee.”
Exactly! And for everyone who says that people who don’t like their jobs should quit, in my experience, the most miserable employees often are so because they /can’t/ quit. Yeah, poor service sucks and employees shouldn’t take their misery out on you, but there could be a little more patience on both sides of the counter.
@BoorRichard: Lie. My favorite was 555-1212. After a while, they gave up on me. Spoilsports.
If you want the sales associates to avoid you just wear headphones (you don’t even have to be listening to anything just put the plug in your jacket or pocket) and they will move right onto the next person who is not wearing headphones. Just make sure you look generally disinterested and oblivious as you walk past them.
Got this idea from when Gamestop was broadcasting the ENDING of Zelda Twilight princess on their corporate TV’s. I don’t want to see the ending of a 50$ game I just bought thank you, so it was recommended to wear headphones and listen to something to avoid seeing the ending of the game you just bought.
1. SA had ‘that’s not my department’ attitude 32
This one really makes me mad, but in the way that people actually get mad that the SA is honest and basically tells you they have little or no idea about the product you want and you get mad at them? If im selling you a TV or a computer at Best Buy or wherever what are the odds that i know about home appliances? Would you rather the employee tell you absolute fabrications just so you can get the “service” in a timely manner?
@Treefingers: Hmm in retail I think I was taught that if you don’t know the answer you are to show the customer to the proper department so they can get the help they need from someone who knows the product. If there wasn’t anyone you were supposed to get the manager or someone in charge. If the person in that department was on break you were supposed to apologize and tell the customer they would be back in 15 min (this was more for phone calls than anything). The excuse “its not my department” would have never been tolerated here! Yes we actually gave the customers good service except when we were out of an item we referred them to another retail store!
Regarding #1 “SA had ‘that’s not my department’ attitude”
That’s often the case of management TELLING the sales staff to stick to their department, as well as not providing any training on the products and services of other departments.