The battle of the brands

I don’t mind promo people at the malls, but I usually don’t like the system of selling being employed by most department stores. It’s like this, when you go to Ace Hardware or SM Department store and want to buy a preferred brand, a staff will assist you but would suggest another brand. For instance, whenever I go to Ace Hardware to buy a Philips energy saver bulb, a staff would usually hand me a Firefly brand and tell me why it’s a good brand, blah blah blah, and he would even convince me to buy it instead of what I preferred. Of course, I would politely tell him I was looking for Philips and not Firefly.

Also, I recently went to Wilcon Home Depot and asked for an energy saver bulb, and the staff also handed to me a Firefly brand. Why oh why? Are these people being paid by Firefly or what? So the people in these stores are mostly promos of brands X or Y and would convince you to buy their products even if you insist on brand A. So, if one customer would be looking for a Bell TV and a promo of another TV brand is around, the customer might walk out buying the second brand instead.

Oh well, it still depends on the customer in the end. After all he decides which brand to buy. What I just don’t like is how some of these promo people insist that their brand is the best. It sure takes a lot from your shopping time as they explain the great things about what they represent. For me, it would be better if all these service staff do not represent or promote any brand. In this way, they have no hidden agenda when dealing with the customers’ needs.