Why do shopkeepers shout but then ignore you when you enter?
The short answer
The shout is a greeting, not a sales pitch. Once you step inside, the dynamic changes — now it's private space. That brief moment of being ignored? It's actually courtesy. It says: look around, no pressure. The real conversation starts when you pick something up.
"Come look! Best price! Where you from?" You walk in. The man who was shouting is now drinking tea and looking at his phone. He might glance at you. He might not.
You've just experienced two different systems operating in sequence.
The shout is the hook — a numbers game, same as any market economy. Of a hundred tourists passing the stall, perhaps five will slow down, two will enter, one might buy. The call has to be loud, personal, and relentless because the conversion rate is low. This is not aggression. It's volume-based sales in a market with five hundred competitors within shouting distance.
The ignore is the close. Moroccan souk psychology runs on the principle that a pressured buyer leaves. Once you've entered the shop — crossed from the street into his territory — the dynamic inverts. Now you're the one who's curious. The shopkeeper who chased you in the street becomes the man who couldn't care less whether you buy. He drinks his tea. He lets you touch things. He waits for you to ask a price, because the person who asks first has already conceded interest.
It works. The tourists who feel offended by the shouting were never going to buy. The ones who enter and get ignored often stay longer, touch more, and eventually ask. The shout filters for foot traffic. The silence filters for buyers.