You know this has happened to you: You go into a fast food restaurant and order what you want. You are invariably asked, "Want fries with that?" or :"Would you like to make that supersize?" You've been a victim of an annoying business trend called "upselling."
Can you imagine that your friendly neighborhood Purchasing Department might just be a party to the trend?
As a consumer, I find upselling highly annoying. Without trying to offend Burger King, Amazon, or CitiBank, if I wanted fries, an extra book or credit protection insurance, I can find and ask for all those things on my own; I don't need or want prompting from a call center operator or a webpage.
How are some Buyers responsible for this in some instances? In catalog companies, items that are overbought must be liquidated one way or another. Purchasing Departments that are also responsible for inventory management must find ways to sell the excess items. Hence, they recommend strongly what should be "upsold."
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