Hina Khan, an Indian housewife, entered an abaya shop in a plush mall, only to storm out of it within minutes in a fit of rage. Reason: Salesmen ignored her. “I was looking at the abayas in the shop when one of the salesmen said they were too costly, and he went to attend to a Saudi woman who had just entered the shop,” Hina recounted. Incidents like these are not uncommon. The Kingdom is home to nearly eight million expatriates, making up a sizable consumer segment. And with the focus of real estate investment in the Kingdom shifting to shopping malls and hypermarkets, the service industry culture of patience and etiquette is expected to proportionally ramp up as well, as the malls battle it out to attract customers. “How can they have such pre-conceived notions whether or not we will make a purchase?” asked Hina. Shopkeepers, however, have their own justification for being irked. “Some customers ask too many questions and negotiate a lot. And when finally a deal is reached, they may leave the shop without making a purchase,” said Abdul Mahfouz, a retailer at a Jeddah mall. Bargaining or haggling, almost a second nature to some Asian shoppers, is reasonably a turn-off for many shopkeepers. “There is nothing wrong with haggling. In fact, it is every shopper's right to negotiate, after all everyone wants the best deal,” said Maryam Alvi, a Pakistani expatriate. Haggling is common in her home country, she says. “If you don't bargain, you will end up paying at least double the price of the goods,” she said. Psychologists consider the lack of professionalism in some bilious shopkeepers for their misconduct. “The main cause of this misconduct of the salesmen is their lack of qualification and incompetence in dealing with customers,” says Dr. A.B Khan, a Jeddah-based consultant psychologist. “They lack professionalism and do not have the essential qualifications needed for the job, so they get biased with shopkeepers,” he says. According to Khan, biased salesmen neglect the rule ‘customers come first' by preferring to those buyers who they believe would give them more sales. Another conflict-prone area is a gold shop, where purchases are made after what seems to be the longest hours of deliberations, enough to make the sales person go berserk. But in other cases, a non-Arabic speaking shopper may get better deals from shopkeepers belonging to their native place. A study by Dr. Piyush Kumar Sinha, professor of marketing at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, on the shopping orientation of the Indian shoppers, says: “Indian shoppers seek emotional value more than the functional value of shopping.” The study lists bargaining as a distinct aspect of the Indian shoppers. It further indicates that though there are some similarities in the Indian shoppers and shoppers from developed countries, there are some significant differences too. In China, haggling is an accepted practice. A Chinese proverb says, “Everything in China is negotiable - shopping, buying and selling.” Chinese shoppers, in fact, take pride in haggling, with vendors willing to negotiate up to 50 to 75 percent of the price. “Ours is a service industry. Providing satisfaction to our customers is our prime duty, irrespective of whoever they are,” said Abdul Azeem, area executive of Giordano, Balad-Jeddah. “We have many price-conscious shoppers. If they ask for bargains, we should deal with them politely and provide them with other alternatives,” he said. Azeem seconded Dr. Khan's opinion, saying the salesperson should be qualified enough and should possess versatile communication skills to deal with all sorts of customers. “Bargaining is a habit,” he said. “It is imperative that every shopper visiting the store needs to be handled specially, because irrespective of whether the shopper buys or not, he will certainly help in building the reputation of the store,” he said. __
