Snooty shop staff and luxury goods are the perfect fit
Indifference – not smiles – is best for business when it comes to high-end sales, say psychologists
WHO can forget the scene in Pretty Woman where Julia Roberts’s character is treated with withering disdain in a Beverly Hills designer store?
Ultimately, the po-faced shop assistants came to rue their “big mistake, huge” in chucking out Vivian Ward, but in terms of their choice of facial expression, science has proved them right.
Psychologists have discovered that when it comes to selling luxury goods, it helps to wear a neutral or even contemptuous expression.
A series of experiments showed that customers were more likely to judge expensive items as desirable if the people selling them appeared dismissive or uninterested. An unfriendly attitude was found to create a “social distance” which the customer seeks to overcome.
The findings appear to validate what many luxury brands know instinctively. The atmosphere in couture and other high-end outlets is often noticeably less warm than on the high street.
The study quoted an online review posted by a customer at Loewe’s, a luxury fashion outlet, as saying: “I walk into Loewe’s and there is a collective angst against customers. Loewe’s workers won’t look you in the eye, and they even walk quickly away from you when you walk towards them.”
Published in the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, the research also contradicts less in-depth psychological studies that led scientists to assume that shop assistants smiling is advantageous in all circumstances – the so-called smile principle.
Previous psychological research has found that the “DNA” of luxury is the symbolic desire to belong to a superior class and keep a distance from people with relatively low social status.
Buying an expensive handbag, for example, overcomes the perceived distance created by the unsmiling shop assistant and promises to create it between the buyer and others without.
However, the experiments found that neutral or contemptuous expressions by staff only worked in the case of high-quality goods. They showed that in the case of “mundane” items, a smile or warm countenance helped sales.
The team believes this is because, unlike in the case of luxury goods, there is no advantage in creating a distance between a product and potential buyer.
The scientists at Nanjing University in China said: “Retailers should consider product type when training a frontline employee to manage their facial expressions.
“We suggest that the mundane products retailers follow the smile principle. However, we do not recommend luxury retailers follow [it].”