Sales assistants selling expensive items should be more snobby like Mrs Slocombe #CarryGobySeanKellz #FutureGroupNG via @myentertain9jar

IF you sell overpriced luxury goods, you need a snooty shop assistant like Mrs Slocombe from Are You Being Served?

Mollie as Mrs Slocombe could be the ideal role model for sales assistants[ALAMY]

Played by Mollie Sugden, she considered herself a cut above colleagues and clientele at the sitcom's Grace Bros department store.

But such an approach could boost sales of expensive items, according to a study at Canada's University of British Columbia.

"Snobbiness might be a qualification worth considering for luxury brands like Louis Vuitton or Gucci," said Professor Darren Dahl, a marketing expert who led the research.

Snobbiness might be a qualification worth considering for luxury brands like Louis Vuitton or Gucci

Professor Darren Dahl

Participants interacted with a mixture of staff who were either pleasant or rude and snobbish.

The "customers" reported an increased desire to own the luxury products after being treated poorly.

However, rudeness did not improve sales of more downmarket brands.

Professor Dahl added: "You've got to be the right kind of snob in the right kind of store for the effect to work."

The study, called Should The Devil Sell Prada? will be published in the Journal of Consumer Research.