Annoying, "In your face", personal selling at the mall...

In marketing class we were recently discussing branding and the marketing mix. On the marketing mix worksheet and personal selling got brought up. Personal selling seems to be rather out of date with the advent of ecommerce. People also generally know what they want when it comes to shopping or they should. Also when going to a store if someone needs help or assistance they can just ask. Personal selling seems outdated and an annoyance. It appears as if you can’t go into a store and just “look” or find what you want. It usually is pretty clear when someone is going on a mission to purchase something and the individuals advertising statement is annoying because you have to stand there and listen to it while not caring while you become increasingly more annoyed and do not retain any of the information to begin with. I usually cut them off with “I am not interested” and keep walking or listen to what they have to say and say “okay” and keep walking. This kind of personal selling gets more annoying and rigorous around the Christmas season turning people off to purchasing. There is enough stress during the Christmas season and the personal selling doesn’t make it any easier.

Also people in the middle of the mall use this technique and it can also be annoying. At the Hoyloke mall in Holyoke Massachusetts there are booths where perfumes and lotions are sold and people literally get in your face and interrogate everyone at the mall to sell their product. The only way to fight these people off is to be firm which shows they driving customers away rather than gaining them. There is also the booth where cell phones are sold. On some occasions but not all of them when you happen to walk by them the cell phone representatives happen to ask if you have a cell phone (which nowadays seems odd because most people have cell phones) and after you answer “yes” and it’s not their company they seem to be very rude and bad mouth your cell phone carrier which does not help the consumer to switch to their cell phone. These kinds of personal selling are rude and annoying and I don’t know why companies, marketers, and advertisers change their methods or get rid of personal selling.

Do you think store and middle of the mall personal selling is rude and outdated? You can provide examples whether you think this is outdated or any annoying stores you have with dealing with these sales representatives.