Retail Snobbery

Apparantly in Japan Prada employees are getting fired for being too ugly. This reminded me of a story Today Tonight or ACA ran on retail snobbery. That is customers getting treated differently based on how they look.

I can't remember the detail of the stories but basically they took two (very) average looking volunteers around to a bunch of stores like LV, CC, D&G whatever and had a hidden camera filming how hard it was for the volunteers to get any assistance from the shop's staff. Then they sent in their good looking agent who would get private tours and lots of help from the staff.

The basic explanation for the disparity was that these brands didn't want the business or money of the average looking mere mortals. But I don't accept this thesis. I'd like to propose a simple alternative.

A store is a store, and money is money. In theory my money is as good as yours. These companies are out to make a profit, thus they want to make sales. So I reject the notion that these stores (head office at least) don't want to sell their products to just about anyone who can pay.

I wonder if these volunteers would actually pony up the cash in this experiment if they were sincere about buying the goods.

But that's neither here nor there. Whilst a store is a store and money is money, so too are retail jobs just retail jobs. You walk past these boutique stores (or in my case, coast by on a bicycle) and look at the retail staff and I often think 'there are no retail specialists, and if there are they would be car salesmen and real estate agents. No there is no real difference between the shop assistents here and the shop assistents in Just Jeans.'

Skills are not a high barrier to entry for a retail job. Thus retail employees are kind of a commodity, just like Surgeons aren't. You don't need a university degree to stand around a shop folding things and handling the occassional customer enquiry. Thus I don't imagine these boutique brands need to pay their staff much more than say Just Jeans or Target. Furthermore, since there's so many people who would prefer to work in a store at an hourly rate over a call center, I imagine the employer gets their pick and their criteria is based on looks.

Who then are the people that want to work in a store where you have to dress up everyday and look the part over a store where you can wear jeans and a tshirt?

I haven't done my research here, but I would guesstimate the people you will get handing in their resume to these boutique brands are people that believe in the brands.

That is, the primary attraction is not whatever premium wages are available (I'd be surprised if they even existed) but the chance to A) get a discount on the stores goods and B) associate with the prestigious brand.

The job is otherwise shitty. Long hours of standing around being bored, not much pay and a dress code. But it does give you a chance to be with the beautiful people.

These high-end retail outlets are sold on a story: status symbols. That is, these are the brands used by successful people. It's why they use holiwood stars in their promotions and cultivate an image of exclusivity.

Thus, when Joe average walks in off the streets and suggests he can just buy a D&G handbag, it is a direct confrontation of what these employees believe. They are an affront. They suggest these brands aren't for the successful, the beautiful, the sophisticated but any man and his dog so long as he can afford to pay.

Thus they try to ignore them and hope they go away. Their mere presence offends every belief that lead them to take on this shitty job. They are challanging the very values of the brand. Hence, they snob them, against the better interests of the brand, the brands owners and the stores bottom lines.

They give beautiful people the grand tour because they conform to their beliefs about the brand. Their universe is in harmony when a well dressed buxom blonde lady walks in in stillettos and asks for a handbag to carry her toy-dog around in.

Unfortunately, the economics these brands exploit so they don't have to pay premium wages (to compensate for the hassle of dressing up for work each day) also in turn attract people who will refuse to sell the brand to anyone who doesn't fit their preconcieved notions.

Of course, maybe in the long run, this will work out to the brands economic best interests. I mean if you have too many ugly people as walking billboards for your brand, nobody will want your brand anymore. Otherwise known by one of my favorite marketing terms: 'prole-drift'