VietNamNet Bridge – Salespeople at upscale shops invariably give a warm welcome to smartly dressed customers, but are chilly toward those who do not look well-off.
When Ngoc Lan, an information technology engineer, entered a shoe shop on Pham Ngoc Thach street, the salesman told her to look at other shops that display less luxurious and expensive items.
“You will not be able to afford the items here, he said to me,” Lan recalled.
At another shop, Lan was not welcomed because she was carrying a large, heavy bag instead of a luxury handbag, and had arrived there by bus instead of a car or fashionable motorbike.
“I always carry a large bag because I am an IT engineer and I need it for my laptop,” Lan explained. “I have the habit of traveling by bus because I like walking and wandering on the streets when I have free time.”
Hoang Lan, a branding expert, said that the principle applied by many salespeople in big cities is to “judge a man by his looks“.
“It seems that Vietnamese traders still have not learned anything about sales techniques, even though the country has been integrating with the world for years,” he said. “In the case about the woman who was turned away, the shop owner clearly lost a potential customer.”
Vu Hong Ha, a partner in a law firm, said that a restaurant once refused to serve him because he arrived by bicycle.
Ha had been invited to dinner by a friend, a Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese) who was in Hanoi on his holiday.
Since the restaurant was on Hue street, near his house, Ha decided to go there by bicycle, while the friend went there by a BMW car.
“Though it was a good sports bicycle worth several million dong, the security guards told me their parking lots were for motorbikes and cars only, which meant that I was not welcomed at the restaurant,” Ha said.
“I decided that I will never return to that restaurant,” he added.
Vu Kim Nga, a VietNamNet reader, recently emailed the editorial board, describing her treatment at the “Cho Chui” (Curse Market) in Hanoi.
“If you ask about the price of a product and you don’t buy it, you will receive an insult,” Nga said. “However, the market has existed for many years in Hanoi.”
A visitor to Hanoi told VietNamNet reporters that she was very surprised about the attitudes of Hanoi salespeople towards customers.
“It is quite different from what you can see in HCM City,” she said. “In HCM City, if you are a customer, you will be served as if you are a god.”
Explaining the difference between Hanoians and Saigonese, she said Saigonese seem to better understand the “art of the sale” than Hanoians.
“I once received two farmers who came to our car showroom in HCM City in rubber sandals, so I assumed that they were farmers from the western part of the country. They bought two Lexus cars and paid in cash immediately,” she said.
Ngoc Ha
Poorly dressed customers not welcomed at luxury shops Related image(s)
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