Economics: negative consumer sentiment following failure to upsell

Question

I was recently at a bricks-and-mortar shop selling some equipment. I knew exactly what need I had and had a mental picture of the product I expected to purchase.

The store offered two different products that both would have (apparently) met my needs. One product (A) was nearly double to price of the other (B). Product A was very close to what my mental picture (based on advertisements, seeing other people with this product) was of what I needed. Product B looked totally different.

When I approached the customer service representative, I explained the background to my need and asked what the difference between the two products were. The representative suggested that I get product B which was cheaper and would fulfil my need, so there was no point in spending the extra money to get product A.

Of course, I bought product B. But on the way out I couldn't help feeling negatively about the purchase. Some people might say "what an honest business person" for not trying to rip me off. Maybe it's a product of living in a capitalist consumer-driven society, but something disturbed me about the employee's failure to upsell and try to get me to buy product A. I had not expressed any unwillingness to pay for product A and even went so far as to say that I was interested in a quality product.

From the point of view of economics, why am I unable to help feeling negatively about this purchase? Is there ever any economic benefit to not upsell a customer?

Answer 1

There are several different participants in the transaction, and you may not be aware of all the issues:

• Generally the consumer wants to get the best deal possible. But you balance that by your own personality. You need something, but you may also want the coolest version of the product, or you go for bleeding edge technology. The employee doesn't know where on the spectrum you fall.
• The employee may be hourly, or commissioned or some combination of the two. If they see no economic benefit to steering you towards the more expensive item, they will not be motivated to do so. Of course if they believe their job is at risk they will act differently. Even if they receive a commission on sales volume they may feel they can generate a bigger volume by completing more transactions, instead of investing 30 minutes of their time trying to convince you to get the more expensive item.
• The store may make a bigger profit on the less expensive item, or they are pushing the item because they are overstocked. This can also be reflected on the commission paid to the employees.

In some business (fast food) they are required to ask if you want to super size, they are expected to do this at every transaction, but aren't paid more if you buy more.

The employee can also decide that too much pressure to up-sell may push you to purchase the item online. That will cost them a commission, the store location a sale, and maybe drive you to a different company.

It is also possible they don't have the training to be able to explain the difference between the items.