It would appear that shop assistants are always around and bothering one when one wants to be left alone but are nowhere to be seen when one actually does need them. Well, that used to be the case.

I now find that some department stores have crowds of sales staff swarming around every product section and blocking my thoroughfare.

Being quite brand faithful, shopping for food is, for me, usually, a lightning fast affair with the shopping trolley being propelled in overdrive. And so it happened one fine day that I grabbed my favourite milk powder in one of Shanghai's well-known department stores and was about to dump it in the trolley.

"Sir, please," cried one of the assistant-army-in-attendance with shock engraved upon every centimetre of her face: "Don't buy that rubbish, it is just no good."

"Huh," I retorted, "I have been buying this for 10 years and, would you believe it, I am actually quite satisfied with it."

"Oh no, Sir, you should buy this," and she pointed to some brand I had never heard of, without being able to tell me why.

I kick-started my shopping trolley and moved on ... in overdrive.

At the hair care section I was told that the bottle of my regular shampoo I clutched left dangerous chemicals in my hair that could leave me bald before long and my receding hairline was pertinent proof that the process was already in progress.

At the electronic section, things were no different.

The shop assistant, obviously, was totally unaware of the finer attributes of the equipment on display but kept telling me, basically, that all the well-known brands on display were utter rubbish, likely to give up the ghost soon after the plug was committed to an electric outlet, except, one obscure brand which I, again, had never heard of.

Upon inquiring, I was told that some of the assistants were not paid by the shop but by the manufacturers of certain products and it was then that my penny dropped: Why spend millions of yuan on TV advertising and sales promotions, while a commission agent could be engaged cheaply at retail level to dissuade any captive customer from buying the opposition model and aggressively push their product.

Innovative? Of course, but not very ethical and certainly not in the interest of the customer.

So, what's to be done?

Well, if there must be an army of shop assistants, then they should be salaried by the shop. If there is a commission system, they should get a commission on the sale of every product and definitely no additional commission for selling particular brands. They should be thoroughly trained and be familiar with all significant features of the various articles under their care. They should be able to efficiently advise any prospective buyer based on his requirements and budget without any favouritism, hidden "incentives" from manufacturers or wholesalers.

Additionally, shops should have clear, customer friendly, specifications available near the displayed articles. A MS "Excel" type spreadsheet at a central point would be very useful too so customers can compare apples with lemons.

But those commission agents hanging around product displays cajoling customers not to buy the opposition product should not be there. They serve only to confuse the buyer. Besides, this kind of selling technique is not only bothersome in the extreme but also plainly dishonest.

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