Opinion: Here's One Reason Why Windows 8 Sales Are Slow

Status
Not open for further replies.

Chibinho

Honorable
Jun 4, 2012
69
0
10,640
Well Said. The Problem is mostly there, at the salesman. Because we, are a minority, who cares about specs, windows and technical expertise. But the majority are people that just want a computer that works, and for the best price. And they trust the Clerk. If he says that Windows 8 is the worst he ever saw, they will believe in him. So Wrong. The managers should Control their Clerks. Or Better, hire Clerks that know what is their Goal. To Sell.
 
I've been in many computer departments since the release of win8... and never once have i heard a sales person say that.

what i have heard is countless versions of this conversation...

Customer - "Do i have to get windows 8 with this?"
Salesclerk - "yes"
Customer - "Nevermind then"

Seriously... it's in different variations such as "can i get this with windows 7? no? then nevermind" or "can i get this with windows? that's windows? nevermind" or "do you have any computers with windows 7 on them? no? nevermind"

And the sales clerk sighs tiredly and walks away. Recently i asked a sales clerk if they hear the question as much as it seems i do, and she said "every day, almost every other person." Which I might add is about what i've heard just from casually strolling around looking at the new computer tech as i do every other week or so (i build and repair systems).

Considering this seems to be the general situation at the point of sales, it wouldn't surprise me if some minimum wage employees at Walmart might be frustrated and trash talk it... since that's all he's hearing from the customers all day.
 

CyranD

Distinguished
May 6, 2013
26
0
18,530
The fact that the sale person made the comment after the girl said she doesn't like window 8 could indicate that he was just trying to be agreeable. What I mean is for entertainment purposes I have talked to a sale person at best buy and the best product to buy always seems to be the one I show interest in. I have managed to make a sale person say the exact opposite thing they original told me within 5min simply by the comments I made about the products and the questions I asked.
I think there a possibly if someone came in to the store saying how much they liked windows 8 suddenly the sale person would be saying how great it is.
My point is simply most sale people selling computers in major chain store are clueless in general so this not an issue related to a misunderstanding of windows 8.
 
this is a prime example of salespeople failing to sell, as are other examples people have cited. Yes, windows 8 has it's shortcomings, but it has things that it did right too, which you have correctly pointed out in the article.
At the end of the day, all a sales person needs to say is "sure, it's very different, but try it and you might like it. if not, never fear, your beloved desktop is only a few clicks away"
 

itsderekdude

Honorable
Aug 1, 2012
7
0
10,510
I've gotta disagree. I put Windows 8 on my parents computer, and within 3 weeks, I had to make a trip back down to thier house and reload thier computer with Windows 7. They gave it a try, and loathed it. The fact that you have to use a 3rd party apps to make it appeasable is the prime example of why it sucks.
If Microsoft had allowed me to make a choice of what UI I wanted during installation, and leaving an option to go back and forth, I would have already bought 5 copies from them. But they didnt, so I didnt.
 

billgatez

Distinguished
Feb 7, 2012
225
0
18,680
Judging all salesmen based on one Walmart employee Who does not give two s**t's weather you buy the product or not because h is still going to get payed is ridiculous.
 

dormantreign

Distinguished
Oct 6, 2010
473
0
18,810
I work at wal-mart selling these things, and i agree with the associate windows 8 is crap and i'd have told them the same thing. I hate the interface and so does the other nan and pops that buy into it coming back mad at me because of it. Its a horrible design and should have been for tablets only. An as for adding a 5 dollar app to bring the start button magically back, try telling a 60 year old how to do that. Microsoft has shot themselves in the foot with 8.
 

jerm1027

Distinguished
Apr 20, 2011
404
0
18,810
Are you fucking kidding me!?
"Windows 8 sales are bad because of salesmen"
Windows 8 received a lot of flack way before it went on sale due to the crappy interface, and the sales were poor out the gate. Microsoft hasn't done a anything to change it, and they still insist on shoving their blocky UI down our throats. Some people don't want their computers to resemble an over-glorified smartphone.
Plain and simple, people don't want to fight their operating system to get it work - that's why it's getting bad sales. I don't care how many under-the-hood "improvements" there are; if the interface (you know, the way you interact with the machine?) is bad, then the experience will be bad.
If you have well-informed opinions, please share them, but this is a pointless piece of crap that makes you seem waaay out of touch with anything tech-related. In fact, it makes you seem like a fan-boy by using a very minor issue as a scapegoat instead of admitting that the software is flawed.
 

xcaninox

Honorable
Oct 8, 2012
13
0
10,510
The salesman is right, he is telling the truth and i am trully glad he said that. Windows 8 is a piece of crap, and congratulations to this guy, he deserves to be promoted. And i'm not even kidding.
to finish, i'm gonna bump alchemy69's question, are you getting paid to write this shit? cuz seriously you don't even need to be hard-core to dislike Windows8, even the littlegirl didn't like it imagine a hardcore like me, i would broke my mouse in 30 seconds and the screen in 60.
 


this poster's cursing aside he makes a valid point. It did read like a fanboy's defense of the indefensable.
 

bluestar2k11

Distinguished
Feb 1, 2011
145
0
18,680
"There's nothing to fear with the new design:"
Maybe nothing to fear, but it also has quite a pointless system to go with the fearlessness.
You can pay 5$ to convert it to a windows 7 look, but why should the customer pay a penny to get a look they want? Assuming the average user can find what they're looking for to do in that jumbled mess of blocks. It's like trying to build a lego base without the instructions to them.
Just because 8 is the new thing doesn't mean it's a useful thing. A lot of people touting 8 as a good OS forget the one little point: what is the point of this OS? It's new, with colourful blocks? Oh it goes 5% faster? Yay? 5% faster is maybe 3 quarters of a second, or 1, maybe 2 FPS if your lucky, only hardcore techies and gamers will care about that, it may do better on more powerful systems, but the average user doesn't have a more powerful system, and the colourful blocks is just absurd for the average user to learn and try and get around.
Just because it's not the nightmare most make it out to be, which it sure looks like it is, it gives little reason for anyone to care about the pretty blocks on the screen, let alone understand them, because to them, it does look like a nightmare, and nightmares lead to headaches, and returning the item for your money back, and finding one that doesn't give headaches, which there's plenty of that online. This OS version is also impossible for any disabled user of blind and low vision software.
Microsoft should have hired someone with a brain, kept their little blocks on their little phones and tablets that nobody is buying either, and put a desktop screen like 7 uses in for PC users, if MS is really die hard to have metro in there, should make it option in the control panel under display, and users can toggle on IF, and only IF, they wish to do so.
Sometimes being too innovative is as detrimental as being stagnant.
Windows 7 did everything right. Windows 8 wishes it did. Maybe Windows 9 will accomplish what 8 didn't, as everyone says, that seems to be the cycle for MS.
 

godftw

Distinguished
Apr 7, 2010
110
1
18,690
probably has nothing to do with it, i'd imagine it has more to do with microsofts own advertising. instead of selling the OS as touchpad geared they should have sold that as a clutch feature of a more optimized broader OS?
 

xcaninox

Honorable
Oct 8, 2012
13
0
10,510
The salesman is right, he is telling the truth and i am trully glad he said that. Windows 8 is a piece of crap, and congratulations to this guy, he deserves to be promoted. And i'm not even kidding.
to finish, i'm gonna bump alchemy69's question, are you getting paid to write this shit? cuz seriously you don't even need to be hard-core to dislike Windows8, even the littlegirl didn't like it imagine a hardcore like me, i would broke my mouse in 30 seconds and the screen in 60.
 

Fulgurant

Distinguished
Nov 29, 2012
585
2
19,065

This Bill Gatez guy might be on to something. :)

So let me get this straight, Mr. Parrish: instead of blaming the product and/or the slowing PC market for Windows 8's poor sales' figures, you argue that salespeople across the world have some sort of baseless bias against the product, which they then impart upon the consumer, and thereby hurt their own business?

And this theory arises from a singular anecdote about a non-commissioned, low-wage salesman at Walmart?

I mean no disrespect, man -- and frankly I don't know or care enough about Windows 8 to have a dog in this hunt -- but sheesh.
 

vvildcard

Distinguished
Jun 26, 2009
15
0
18,510
Golly... how dare that saleman take the honest route and give his honest assessment of a product his store is selling. He clearly didn't go to salesman school where you learn to be as sleazy as possible and sell, sell, sell--no matter the cost or how big the pile of garbage is.
/sarcasm
I'm proud of the clerk for not trying to sell something he doesn't believe in.
I'm sorry that the poor guy didn't have any viable alternatives to point his customers towards.
 
Windows 8 sux period as a UI.
And yes I have tried it.
Maybe for a phone or it would be ok.
Trying to find all of the advanced setting is a nightmare.
Will not let me run my monitor at its native resolution, tells me it is not supported.???
At least win7 let me specify a custom resolution to get it to work. Viewsonic VX922
Having to hover my mouse in the corner then type the name of the program I want to start. Then have to search for it because it is listed under the company name then the program name.
Then trying to figure out how to teach my wife to use it???? When rearranging the desktop Icons throws her off.
No thanks.
 

tobalaz

Honorable
Jun 26, 2012
276
0
10,780
There's nothing to fear with the new design: you simply hit a tile and you're somewhat back to normal. Purchase and download the $5 Start8 app from Stardock, and your Start button and Start menu are back.
Sure, there are a lot of current and potential customers who are annoyed with the whole redesign. It was too much and too quick in my opinion,
THAT is the problem.
It changed too much so it not familiar anymore, then in order to get it to be back to user friendly, you have to BUY additional non-Microsoft software to get it back to a familiar working state.
 
G

Guest

Guest
I have never commented on Tom's Hardware before but this was so ridiculous that I couldn't pass... Windows 8 is an amazing OS hidden behind a terrible Metro skin that Microsoft forces people to use. I always speak for my self but Metro is crap, and it's not just my opinion, look at the reviews, majority of negative feedback has something to do with Metro. Its not the OEM's fault and its not the clerk's fault either. If this is Microsoft's idea of the future than they are wrong and it's reflected in the sales figures.
 

bebangs

Distinguished
Sep 23, 2009
443
0
18,790
>>My jaw dropped. Seriously?
YEP! seriously!!! Windows 8 is one of the worst versions I have ever seen.
Like the girl, I'm also saying that I wanted my desktop unchanged, and that I don't want the blocky tiles of Windows 8, pointing to one of the models on displays.

Hoping windows blue would bring back the old windows feel that i've grown to love. I'd rather buy a MAC than to stick with windows8. And No, i dont want to purchase any third party application to fix microsoft flaws. Microsoft, fix it your self.

Seriously!
 

southernshark

Distinguished
Nov 7, 2009
1,014
4
19,295
It's definitely a problem, but so is W8. I have a friend, who isn't good with computers, and she was talking to me once about her W8 laptop and described Metro as some other world you go to and can't get out of.... That pretty much sums it up for the casual user. And unfortunately the casual user is 80 percent of the market. Now as to what W8 offers to the other 20 percent.... well not a whole fuck lot honestly. As such it is a boondogle on MS's part to have shoved it down the consumer throat. It should have been introduced with the start menu option from the get go. And the fact that this has still not been fixed is just mind boggling.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.