澳商店收取“观赏费” 防止只看不买

Celiac Supplies store sign

A gluten-free, wheat-free store in Australia has come under fire for charging customers A$5 (£3.50) just for looking at products on display.

Celiac Supplies in Brisbane complained that it had too many people going into the store to find out which products were gluten and wheat-free and then going to buy them elsewhere.

A poster has been put up in the store's window that informs customers of the charge and explains the reasons for it.

Reddit user BarrettFox uploaded the image of the sign saying: "When they open tomorrow I'm going to see how many times I can walk in and out without paying the toll."

The store owner, known only as Georgina, said that 60 people went into the shop every week, asked her questions about her products, then went somewhere else to buy them.

"I've had a gutful of working and not getting paid. I'm not here to dispense a charity service for Coles and Woolworths to make more money," she said.

"I can tell straight away who are the ratbags who are going to come in here and pick my brain and disappear."

She said some people had been put off by the sign but others had paid the browsing charge. She claimed her prices matched many supermarkets.

The $5 is charged initially then deducted from the bill if goods are purchased in the shop. "This policy is in line with many other clothing, shoe and electronic stores who are also facing the same issue," the sign reads.

Russell Zimmerman, executive director of the Australian Retailers Association, said that while he had heard of clothing stores charging customers to try on clothes, he had never known a shop to charge a browsing fee.

"If I walked into the store and was told I was going to be charged to browse my immediate reaction would be to leave," he said.

"You are missing the opportunity for the browsing customer to actually buy from you."

He suggested Georgina would more likely put people off visiting her shop. Smaller stores should emphasise their unique selling point and offer good customer service to entice more business, he suggested.

双语资讯

(Source: International Business Times)

澳大利亚一家不含谷蛋白和小麦的食品专卖店因为向那些只看不买的顾客收取5澳元

布里斯班市的Celiac Supplies食品店老板抱怨说，太多人进商店是为了看哪些产品是不含谷蛋白和小麦的，然后去其他地方购买这些产品。

该店的橱窗贴了一张告示，告知顾客要收取“观赏费”，并解释了原因。

上传这一告示图片的红迪网用户BarrettFox说：“他们明天开门的时候我就会知道自己可以走进走出多少次而不用付观赏费。”

该店老板乔治娜说，每周有60人走进商店，向她询问有关她的产品的问题，然后去其他地方购买。

她说：“我的工作量很大却没有得到报偿。我开店不是为了给科斯超市和伍尔沃斯食品店提供慈善服务让它们赚更多钱的。”

“我立马就能分辨出哪些人是进来询问完信息就会转身离去的讨厌鬼。”

她说，有些人看到告示就扭头离开，其他一些人则付了“观赏费”。她声称自己店内产品的价格和许多超市持平。

如果在该店购买了商品，一开始收取的5澳元费用就会从账单里扣除。告示称：“这一政策和许多其他面临同样问题的服装店、鞋店和电子产品店采取的策略是一致的。”

澳洲零售商协会的执行董事拉塞尔•齐默曼说，虽然他听说过有服装店向顾客收取试衣费，但他还从未听闻过收取观赏费的商店。

他说：“如果我走进商店就被告知要缴纳观赏费，我的第一反应就是走人。”

“你们将失去让随便看看的顾客从你们店买东西的机会。”

他指出乔治娜此举更可能让人们远离她的商店。他建议说，小型商店应该强调自己独特的卖点，向顾客提供优质的服务，从而招来更多生意。

Vocabulary:

ratbag: [澳大利亚俚语]怪人；脾气乖张的人；讨厌的家伙

pick one's brain: 征求某人的看法