What Working In Retail Taught Me About How Electronics Stores Actually Sell To You
Work as a retail assistant in one of the big stores (cant say the name later kena)
After working inside, honestly dont blindly trust everything retail assistants tell you. A lot of them will push certain products because got extra commission.
Especially warranty plans because those can give pretty high commission compared to normal product sales.
Base commission can literally be around 0.2%, so alot of staff depend heavily on special commissions from selected products instead. Some items can give extra $1-$50 commission or even more depending on promos.
Warranty commission can also be around 5-10% of the warranty price itself, which is why staff push warranties so hard sometimes.
Customer ask for simple laptop, somehow walk out with:
extended warranty
antivirus
microsoft
accessories
versions they dont even need
And the environment damn toxic also. New staff arent really seen as teammates, more like competitors. Everyone chasing sales, targets and commission. Every man for themselves in a nutshell. Got people stealing customers halfway while you serving also.
Not saying every retail staff is bad lah, some genuinely helpful. But alot of advice is honestly generic because products keep changing so fast nobody can remember every detail perfectly anyway.
Nowadays if got questions honestly just use AI and do your own research. Easier compare specs, reviews and prices yourself instead of getting pressured by sales tactics.
And all those:
“promotion ending soon”
“last few sets”
“today got special deal only”
Half the time is just pressure tactics to make you buy faster.
Most of the time online is cheaper anyway:
easier return/exchange
more user reviews
less pressure
can compare properly
Big megastores are basically middlemen/agents for suppliers. If buy direct from supplier or official online store sometimes can save quite a lot.
Honestly electronics stores are mainly useful for trying and seeing the product in person first. Treat it more like a showroom/exhibition so you know what you’re actually getting before buying.
Just sharing what i realised after seeing how things actually work behind the scenes.