March 16th, 2008
You will listen to our low prices on bok choy!
By Cédric Sam // No Comments
Find where it's coming from.
Old sales tactics, new technological means. Two weeks ago, I was strolling in Montreal Chinatown, to do my groceries as usual. As I was walking on De La Gauchetière, when I reached Clark, a loud and lively (and amplified) voice coming from thirty meters down the latter woke me up from my peaceful walk. Woaw! Where did that came from?
It came from the loudspeaker outside grocery store Wing Cheong Hong, and its announcements were those of daily low prices shouted like an auctioneer by its president, M. Bobby Chen, then holding the mic. Of what I know, no other Chinese grocery store in Chinatown uses this stratagem.
I enter the business, and after picking up my weekly pack of bok choy, I walk over to M. Chen for a chat. He tells me that shouting daily specials on the street is a common practice in Japan. "They are not allowed to use a microphone over there, so to sell stuff on special that just came in, they hire guys with megaphones, and beautiful girls in bikini!", he tells me.
Obviously, food markets since the dawn of Humanity have used this method to sell their produces. I did not ask Mr. Chen whether he had the right to do the same thing with today's means. In any case, if loud music is acceptable, why would a spoken circular not be too?
Mr. Chen, behind the wheel.
Une version française de cet article fût publiée sur Comme les Chinois.
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