Many luxury shoppers have unlocked a strategy to get better access to the goods they most want to purchase: doing it overseas.
However, just because you’re an ocean away from American luxury retail associates, doesn’t mean you’re about to be treated any better, as one Louis Vuitton shopper says she learned.
In a video that has drawn over 6.1 million views on TikTok, neurosurgeon Betsy Grunch (@ladyspinedoc) says she went into the Louis Vuitton store on a trip to Italy and was met with less than stellar treatment from an employee.
Grunch says she thinks it was based on how she was dressed, in sweatpants and a t-shirt for the flight she had just gotten off of.
“It’s funny, we just got here in Italy and one thing I’ve been looking forward to on this trip is there’s a couple Louis Vuitton that I’ve been eyeing,” she says in the video. “Went over to Louis Vuitton so I can eyeball the bags, see if they had what I wanted. Of course they did. The salesman was dismissive, I assume, because of what I’m wearing or how I looked or the fact that I have her with me.”
Grunch is referring to her daughter, who walks alongside her as she tells the story.
Louis Vuitton: To buy or not to buy?
The salesman ended up showing Grunch the bags, she says, as he must have decided she could afford them after all. But she was not about to allow him to receive commission for a sale to her based on his actions.
“I thanked him for his time, for showing me the bags, and told him I was unclear if I wanted them or not and that I left my passport at home I would possibly try to come back,” she says. “I told him that I was going to go back and ask my husband if it was OK if I could purchase those bags.”
She said that was the sales associate’s due, if that was how he was going to act toward a paying customer.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Grunch and to Louis Vuitton’s parent company LVMH via email regarding the video.
Why are luxury sales associates rude?
It’s not set in stone anywhere that every luxury salesperson has to treat customers like they cannot afford what is carried in the shop. But it does happen enough that people have noticed.
One shopper says he was denied purchasing anything at all in a Versace outlet. Another says she was avoided by sales representatives in a Saks Fifth Avenue store.
Apparently, it might all be part of a sales strategy. A 2014 study found that for high-end brands, rude salespeople lead to higher sales. But it only works for true high-end, not major luxury labels.
Why do rude salespeople mean higher sales?
The rude sales strategy can lead shoppers to believe that purchasing an item from a high-end brand can make them part of some “in-crowd,” as reported by CNN.
The study showed that customers had an increased desire to buy goods from high-end luxury brands when salespeople made it harder to get them by being rude.
Is it simply cultural?
Many viewers suggested that it is not a judgment of Grunch’s ability to pay for the bags, but rather that it is a cultural expectation to be dressed well.
“Sorry but it’s kinda cultural,” one commenter wrote. “I’m Italian and we are known for caring about our appearance all the time. It’s a thing since young age, I can hear my mum screaming at me if I dress like you. No hate.”
@ladyspinedoc ♬ original sound – Ladyspinedoc
“Big mistake, big. huge!”
“From an Italian: I’m sorry,” another said. “That’s very common in those stores to get judged based on your outfit, for us too! If only they knew the baddie you are.”
“No hun. you are in Italy,” a third added. “Completely different culture. they would never expect you to ask a husband for the money… but they do kinda expect you to wear more than pj’s ( that’s what it looks like).”
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