My Shopping Experiments

I shopped two shops at Shatin New Town Plaza last Sunday.

Here are what I experienced:

Zara

When I went into the shop, the sale attendant firstly greeted to me “Hello, welcome to Zara” with a friendly smile. The sale attendant used Involvement Politeness Strategy and gave Positive Face to me. I walked around and the sale attendant asked me whether I was the member of the shop. This demonstration was good to show I was in the common group with the sale attendant. It was in Involvement Politeness Strategy.

On the other hand, the sale attendant kept asking me if I need help or not. It was an Involvement Strategy that showed caring to me. Then I stopped for interested clothes, the sale attendant showed her concern to me and told me the varieties of the clothes’ color. It was also an Involvement Politeness Strategy.

After that, I fit two clothes for trial. The sale attendant made some personal comments for me. At that time, I felt her act was over. I did believe that I could decide which style and color I suit. It made me turning into negative face that I didn’t want to be interfered and I wanted more ‘spaces’, the salesman’s action was a Face Threatening Act to me Lastly, I didn’t buy anything. The sale attendant also didn’t greet me when I left the shop.

Agnes b

When I entered the shop, the sale attendant also greeted me. They demonstrated positive face to me. All sale attendants in the shop didn’t follow me. They just let me see their products. This act made me comfortable. However, when I wanted to ask something about their products, all sale attendants were busy for their customers. I waited for more than 10 minutes that I felt no one respect me. It seemed that they ignored me and looked me down. However, as a customer, I wanted to be considered. It was a Face Threatening Act to my positive face. Lastly, I left the shop madly.

Comprising two shops in terms of P, D, W

For ‘P’ (Power), the relationship between customers and shop attendants is equal (P-) in the above two shops. For ‘D’ (Distance), the distance between customers and shop attendants in the above two shops is distant (D+). The reasons for (P-) and (D+) are: the sale attendants and customers are not in the same company and no ranking policy between them. On the other hand, they don’t know each other and they see each other as stranger. So there is no vertical hierarchical relationship between them.

For ‘W’(Weight of Imposition), in the situation of (P-) and (D+), both customers and sale attendants are more likely to use Independence Strategies. So the weight of imposition between customers and sale attendants for the above two shop are (W-). It is because I didn’t make any trouble to the above sale attendants. I might use Independence Strategy to them, which action was ‘leaving the shop’ in the above cases.