Customer Service, Korean Style

by Eleanor Whitwell

To start with, I'll make one thing clear. I've never had the joy (misfortune?) of working in retail. I've never had my paycheck rely on how many things I've sold. I don't really know much about sales tactics. However, as an ardent shopper, I have some idea of what I think good sales tactics are.

I'm not sure what it's like in other Western countries, but in New Zealand it's like this: you go into a shop and if there are shop assistants free, they will probably come up to you and ask, "May I help you?"

You can give one of two answers, the first being, "No thanks, I'm just looking," in which case they'll tell you to ask them if you need any help. Or you can say, "Yes, you can help me," and they will do so.

Unfortunately, the concept of "just looking" does not appear to exist here in Korea and it can get a bit frustrating. Case in point: there is a particular department store I like to visit when in Seoul, because it has a large selection of handbags, shoes, jewellery, and various nice accessories. The problem is, every single person in that shop is bound and determined to make me buy something, whether I want to or not! I walk down an aisle of jewellery stands, and am accosted by people shouting, "Do you want jade necklace?" and "Very good price, very beautiful!" and other sales pitches, all translating to "Please buy my crap!"

This is where shopping tactics come in. I have learned that unless I actually want to browse one of the stands, I have to walk very quickly, looking straight ahead and never averting my gaze even to glance at the pretty jewels sitting in their displays. I no longer feel guilt at saying a blunt "No" to someone or just plain ignoring them.

The problem is, sometimes I just like to browse. I want to look at the stuff without the seller getting everything out of the case and insisting I try it on. Argh! I just want to look! I'm not interested in buying! When I first encountered this irritating custom, I would make excuses for not buying the offered products, but now I just say that I'm not interested and walk away, ignoring the insistent pleas for me to come back. At first I felt rude, but now I'm used to it. Besides, badgering me is the number two way to get me not to buy something, even if I had been considering it previously.

Another odd customer service thing here is the way the sales staff follow customers around the shop. In Korea, there apparently is no such thing as a personal bubble of space. I frequently go into shops and am driven out three seconds later because the shop assistant stands behind me looking over my shoulder whenever I am looking at something. And I mean literally right behind me. One centimetre is all that separates us. I often turn around and crash into them because they are so close to me. Just the other weekend, I was looking at some very nice jewellery, and was thinking of maybe buying some, but the shop assistant wasn't employing the "shout at her until she buys something" approach. She was standing one centimetre behind me, quite literally forcing me to leave the stall. Her standing so close just made me want to scream and certainly didn't inspire me to buy her products.

And that, dear friends, is the number one way of making me leave a shop without buying something, even if I wanted to.

There must be something I'm not understanding. I don't know whether it's some kind of strange sales tactic, if they're just trying to be helpful, if they're trying to drive the foreigner away from their shop, or if they think I'll nick off with half the stuff if they are more than a centimetre away from me. Whatever it is, I haven't been able to get comfortable with it and I really wish they wouldn't do it.

So, shopping here is definitely an experience for this novice from the West. I love shopping to bits. It's one of my biggest hobbies, but here, there is so little pleasure in it because of the the clash between Korean customer service techniques and my New Zealander sensibilities. Fortunately, I have a credit card with a large limit and high-speed internet, so really I never need to leave the house when I want to indulge myself!