In the past week I’ve been exposed to many marketing
strategies. The first one was when I recently went to oakridge mall and passed
by one of the shoe booths. The person working the booths noticed my friend’s
shoes and approached him talking about how his shoes didn’t look good because
they were dirty and he kept trying to convince him to have his shoes done. I
didn’t like the fact that he insulted his shoes because that seemed kind of
mean and it would’ve turned me off. I also didn’t like the fact that he
followed us for quite some time trying to convince him because usually they
follows for a few steps, but this guy was really persistent. I think the best
marketing strategy would be to go up to the customer when they enter the store
and greet them with a smile and say if you need help with anything you can find
me over there because you let the consumer be independent in looking for their
items while at the same time informing them where you will be if they need help.
I had a similar experience with my friend at the Great Mall in Milpitas. She was wearing Coach shoes and a guy at a booth selling shoe cleaning products told her that she should take care of her Coach shoes since she must have paid a lot for them. I thought this was sort of rude since he was implying that she wasn’t taking good enough care of them. He then insisted on cleaning one of her shoes for her by buffing out all the marks on the rubber. However, he only did one shoe and she said he got her foot wet through the canvas! So not only was he ineffective, he made her entire shopping trip irritating because her foot and sock on one side were wet the whole time. Commenting on someone’s attire is not a very effective way of getting customers because many will feel offended.
ReplyDeleteSales people like that scare me. Instead of being interested in the product they are trying to sell, I am more interested in trying to get away from them as fast as I can. I do not like how they chase you down or yell at you halfway down the mall to get you to buy their stuff. This type of marketing strategy is not affective, nor is it attractive. Sales people should be approachable and not intimidating to us because we are they consumers. If the consumers are afraid or uninterested due to poor customer service and sales rep, then it is the company’s fault. This could possibly explain why their sales are not as high as they expected it to be too. Changing the way you advertise your products, along with the good customer service, a company can make more money.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree. I don’t think hovering over customers is a good way to advertise a product. I get really annoyed when this happen to me at the mall. Especially when I have people who tell me I need to try their flat iron and I already have my hair straightened. Similar to how you felt, I found it to be a little insulting as well. However, I must admit that persistent also work on me. I would feel bad to turn them down. Sadly, the few times that I do spare them a couple minutes to convince me to buy their product, I never like it.
ReplyDelete