Shopping mad

Consumers are becoming increasingly pushy, demanding and impatient. Despite denials from some, a new report has shown increasing numbers of shoppers are losing the plot in retail stores across the country - and it seems it's retail employees who are bearing the brunt. Nina Lees reports.

Throwing a hissy fit in the middle of your favourite clothing store because they've sold out of the latest "must have" accessory or they don't stock your size used to be called bad manners.

But these days, as an increasingly demanding breed of shopper hits Australian retail stores, these temper tantrums have spurned their own term, - otherwise known as 'shopper rage'.

Behaviours ranging from screaming, gesturing, swearing, threats and actual misbehaviours are being reported in retail stores across Australia on an increasingly frequent basis.

And while some of Australia's retailers and industry bodies are reluctant to admit these incidents are occurring; there is hard and fast research to the contrary.

The University of Queensland has undertaken research in conjunction with the University of New South Wales and US-based George Washington University which has revealed true the extent at which shopping rage is occurring in Australia.

This breakthrough research, which has been undertaken during the past two years, has determined consumer anger develops from a number of factors, but can be pinpointed primarily to the failure of service by retail employees.
The university secured a three-year grant from the Australian Research Council (worth $240,000) to study customer rage. The research team has completed the study aspect of the job, and will officially deliver its findings in 2008.
Admittedly, the concept of shopping rage is a new concept for Australian retailers to grasp, but such research will no doubt provide the industry with invaluable insights in how to prevent its occurrence and in turn improve the level of service being offered on the shop floor.

And more importantly, such research will give retail employees important advice on how to protect their staff, with the study finding they are the ones bearing the brunt of these often frightening shopping rage ordeals.
Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy, from UQ's School of Business, argues the results of the research should sound as a warning to retailers and service providers to be ready for shopping rage.
She says the research recommends retail employers equip their staff with appropriate training to handle these incidents.

"The interviews have revealed some pretty unpleasant confrontations between customers and service providers, including customers threatening violence. Customers were saying it was incompetence that made them the most angry, because these people were being paid to do a job and not doing it."

The study involved in-depth interviews in four countries, bringing a cross-cultural aspect to the project.
And it seems Australians are among the angriest shoppers of the lot.

"We spoke to people who had an intense or extreme reaction after being dissatisfied with a product or service across a range of retail environments.

"Our research shows that anger is the most common negative emotion experienced by customers when a service transaction doesn't go smoothly."

Co-author Paul Patterson claims the research has implications on recruitment and training of staff, saying there is a clear correlation between a person's personality type and their propensity to fly into a rage.
Patterson says people with short tempers are the most likely to explode in the middle of a retail store when they are tired or in a hurry.

The report showed some evidence of cultural differences in the way disappointed or mistreated customers react in Thailand and China, and other countries.
"These cultures are non-confrontational and see harmony at all costs in public. But privately, when they are badly treated in a service situation, they react by telling as many people as possible and boycotting the firm for long periods.
"They just don't exhibit their anger in public like we do in Australia, Patterson says.

A separate study done by an Australian self-service checkout company recently surveyed 1100 Australian consumers, and found vague staff are one of the more annoying aspects of any retail experience.
Even newly formed Canberra-based Australian National Retailers Association (ANRA) has acknowledged the problem is occurring in Australia, raising the alarm about the growing incidence of verbal abuse and even violent attacks against retail staff just prior to Christmas.
Margy Osmond, chief executive of ANRA, says shoppers become increasingly stressed during the already-tense Christmas shopping period.

It has even been revealed large retailers are giving staff additional training on how to handle shopping rage incidents, with Osmond saying management is often concerned for their young employees and want to give them the tools needed to deal with such incidents.

But despite the huge amount of evidence to the contrary, not everyone will acknowledge the issue.
The Australian Retailers Association denies shopping rage is even occurring.
It seems the peak retail body isn't being told by its members when such incidents are occurring - leading it to conclude it is not an issue in Australian retailing.

"We have not had any feedback on this matter from our members," ARA executive director Duncan Shaw says.
It seems Australian retailers are hesitant to talk about how they deal with these incidents, despite several media reports revealing shopping rage is a growing phenomenon. Presumably this is because poor customer service is often at the root of the problem, which more cynical people might suggest shines the spotlight on their own failure to train staff appropriately.

A spin doctor for department store Myer was reluctant to answer any questions relating to shopping rage despite admitting that such incidents are 'handled'.
"Generally we don't have a huge problem with shopping rage because it is handled, but I would prefer not to comment on that."
But Australian media reports show these incidents are occurring.
And many of us have witnessed someone having a decent dummy-spit as a mortified store assistant desperately attempted to handle the situation.

In Queensland, reports in the media claimed police were bracing themselves for incidents of shopping rage in the lead up to Christmas last year, with clashes including people fighting over popular items when an item wasn't available occurring. And there are similar reports appearing in newspapers across the country every day.
News reports from across the globe also prove that incidents of shopping rage are occurring on an increasingly frequent basis.

In one report, a man with 15 years' shop floor experience had his knee broken in two places by a shopper that turned violent.
"The shop was full of pensioners and young families. I asked to man to leave politely, but he just punched me in the face.
"I feel to the floor and the kicks were raining in, I feared for my life," he told the British press.
The retail assistant says he felt his employer had let him down because despite several incidents of assault and abuse by shoppers, a security guard hadn't been hired.

And in the US, there were several incidents of shopper rage reported in the press during 2006 alone.
In one of several buyer-brawling incidents about 15,000 shoppers swarmed a Utah shopping centre just after Christmas, shoving and fighting their way to the bargains, with police called in six times.
There are also a rising number of retail employees finishing their shifts shell-shocked by their experiences in the US, which has prompted some employers to offer counselling to help lower anxiety.
It's a similar story in the UK. Figures from the Union of Shop Distributive and Allied Workers, the retail workers union in the UK, show more than 200,000 shop workers were threatened with violence and 100,000 suffered assault in the UK between 1995 and 2001.

The union admits violence and verbal abuse on the shop floor is on the increase, and has teamed up with police forces in recent years to tackle shop violence.
Under the shop watch scheme operating in London, shop staff train as police special constables and patrol the local areas. The scheme has had a positive effect on shoppers' behaviour, and has created a feeling of security for staff and shoppers.

McColl's study found incidents of shopping rage were on the increase because more people felt empowered because they knew their rights as a consumer, and had less free time to calm down and reflect on the situation.
And the behaviour by staff that was perceived by the shopper to show incompetence with their purchase, or was rushed or uncaring, most often prompted incidents of shopper rage.
"Staff need the right training and they also need to feel supported by their employer," McColl says.