Shoppers Help Customers

Words: 509
Pages: 3

One of the most challenging aspects of working as a sales associate at a retail establishment focuses on helping customers. Customers, especially those at discount stores, have very specific traits and expectations concerning their shopping experience. Workers must learn to handle the assorted types of shoppers and the personalities these customers bring with their potential business. By observing customer habits, workers identify shoppers that fall into three distinct groups: bargain hunters, impulse buyers, and reluctant shoppers.
Bargain hunters roam from store to store dedicated to finding a perceived deal or bargain. Once this type of shopper locates the desired deal, purchasing the merchandise pacifies the customer regardless of the effort required in the hunt. Bargain hunters enter retail stores that advertise set prices and persistently attempt to hassle or bargain with the staff in an effort to save money. If a store refuses to change the price of the merchandise, a bargain hunter will identify any flaw in the product as a basis for continued haggling over the cost. Stubborn,
…show more content…
These customers annoy sales associates by demanding personal attention for extended periods of time. Reluctant shoppers ask many questions, use technology to research items, compare prices, read reviews, remove items from packaging, and eventually choose not to purchase the product of inquiry. This type of shopper leaves the store only to return with the same questions and the same desire to remove items from the packaging for another review of the same product. The key to selling merchandise to a reluctant shopper rests with the art of persuasion. Reluctant shoppers need assurance that the merchandise meets quality standards, the cost compares to similar items, and the product fulfills expectations. Reluctant shoppers pose the greatest challenge to merchandise