The expression “buy at a stock” has become a part of the modern man's lexicon. The profitability of some promotions is beyond doubt - for example, if toothpaste sells out twice as cheap within one day as in all other discounters of cosmetic and hygiene products. But in the age of capitalism, very often, under the big letters and profitable numbers, there are only tricks of marketers, and there is no real benefit for buyers. The material will debunk the most popular marketing gimmicks.
In the business industry, discounts and promotions have firmly occupied the niche of a kind of magic wand. To attract customers, for example, such techniques are used as discounts on loyalty cards, often such cards cost money for the client. But these discounts, although they look like high, in fact, are quite meaningless, since they are made for slow-moving groups of goods that can be bought without discounts, since they are bought quite rarely. As an example, a discount on shoe cream. In addition, there are seasonal discounts, for example, on coal and barbecue, and the main component - in this case, barbecue - is more expensive than usual. There are also imaginary discounts: first, the price rises by 100-300 percent, and then 50 percent is dropped from this price tag. Below we will talk about the most popular fraudulent promotions.
1. Interest-free installments
"Interest-free installment plan" is almost 100 percent of the time marketers' trick. It is enough just to see how much a similar product costs in any other store when purchased without installments.
There is no interest-free installment plan - it is always an interest-bearing loan.
The price of a product in a store that offers such an installment plan is always overpriced. For example, we will give a real example spied by the authors of Novate. Ru - the cost of the Apple Iphone X 64GB smartphone in the salons of the Republic of Belarus. You can buy a model in the online store with a 12-month warranty for the equivalent of $ 1,000. In "interest-free installments" it is sold at a cost equivalent to $ 1,500. Feel the difference!
Promotional video:
2. Allegedly limited quantity of goods
Have you ever booked a hotel on Booking.com just because you saw a red banner over the ad with the words “only 2 seats left”?
Come on!
Or buy a product in a TV shop after advertising with the words "call now, because the quantity of goods is limited"? This clever marketing principle goes back to a simple supply and demand formula: the less frequent a product, the more valuable it is. Back in 1975, British psychologists conducted a special study with a group of volunteers. They asked people to rate the cookies. One jar contained ten pieces, and the other two. 90 percent of those surveyed said that cookies from a can with two pieces tasted better. But the trick was that the jars contained the same cookies. Sadly, but true: when we see words like "exclusive" or "limited edition", we cannot resist and buy the product.
3. Anchor sales
Have you ever thought why it is so difficult to resist and not buy a product in your favorite mass market? Most likely, this phenomenon is associated with the so-called “anchor” effect, according to which people make decisions on the basis of initially received information.
Oh, those sales!
In marketing, such information becomes a deliberately inflated initial price per unit of goods. For example, your favorite mass market tends to average a pair of jeans the equivalent of $ 35, but on sale just two weeks after they go on sale they are already worth something like $ 20! Our brain receives a signal: "What a stunning discount, we must take!" Anchor is the main move of marketers: they set an overpriced price at the start of sales, and then set the real price of the product, which is served as a discount with bright and catchy price tags with a% sign (for example, red).
4. Promotion "gift upon purchase"
Some time ago, the streets of the cities were flooded with printed flyers of a network of Chinese goods, which indicated that for every 75 Russian rubles in the check, a gift would be given. And what do you think? Huge queues lined up in the shops of the chain.
Gifts included in the price of your items.
But it turned out that a gift for each mentioned amount is a set of 10 wet wipes with a watermelon aroma, the price of which in a discounter is 5 Russian rubles. Isn't it hard to guess that the price of Chinese goods purchased at cheap wholesale prices on Aliexpress is already overpriced enough to attract buyers, and the amount of goods sold will cover the costs of purchased wet wipes hundreds of times. Draw your own conclusions!
5. Seasonal sale of fruits and vegetables using the re-grading method
Some time ago, the streets of the cities were flooded with printed flyers of a network of Chinese goods, which indicated that for every 75 Russian rubles in the check, a gift would be given. And what do you think? Huge queues lined up in the shops of the chain.
Gifts included in the price of your items.
But it turned out that a gift for each mentioned amount is a set of 10 wet wipes with a watermelon aroma, the price of which in a discounter is 5 Russian rubles. Isn't it hard to guess that the price of Chinese goods purchased at cheap wholesale prices on Aliexpress is already overpriced enough to attract buyers, and the amount of goods sold will cover the costs of purchased wet wipes hundreds of times. Draw your own conclusions!
5. Seasonal sale of fruits and vegetables using the re-grading method
If you see a huge seasonal discount on fruits or vegetables, you need to be extremely vigilant. There are two methods of re-grading, by grade and by quality.
Be on the lookout for fruit and vegetable sales.
According to the variety, the process is as follows: there are several types of the same product, but with different prices, for example, dulk tomatoes and ordinary small tomatoes. Part of the total volume of fruits will be replaced by cheaper goods, but the price with the sale is supposedly set for a higher quality variety. A re-grading in quality can simply be mixing a quality product with a spoiled one. For example, if it is grapes, then inside the container a withered twig with heavily darkened berries may well be caught, which can lead to spoilage of the entire volume of products, if not noticed in time.
Exclusive advice
Insider Sergei K., who works in Russia “on the other side of the counter” in a communications store, shares exclusive information for Novate. Ru: “People there have long figured out that there is no interest in installments, but someone has to pay interest to the bank. Guess who? Of course, the store, because it makes a discount on the goods in the amount of bank interest. Only the scheme here is also tricky: all large sellers set the same price, and the terms of the installment plan are the same. However, if you come to the store, you will immediately be told that the new iPhone needs a cover, a protective film, and necessarily - insurance against theft, breakage and hurricane on Venus. These additional sales are compensation to the store for installments. If you refuse, it turns out that this color is not in stock, or has just run out. But now you managed to get the coveted leaflet, you come to the specialist in installments,and he compulsively offers you insurance against job loss, life insurance, and something else.
This is motivated by the fact that otherwise the bank may refuse. This is not so, but the manager will receive a premium for the insurance, and the store will receive a part of the insurance premium as a reward for bringing the client to the bank. Also, the unique opportunity to take a brand new phone in installments for the price of a cup of coffee a day, for two years, just something is being exploited with might and main. Now think about whether you want to drink a cup of coffee every day? However, you can save money here if you choose the right strategy. You can save up about half of the required amount, for a year it's real, and then buy a phone in installments. Then you will only have to sell your old phone, add the accumulated money and give the bank most of the amount, and the discount on the phone will not go anywhere, and if you show a certain amount of firmness and refuse all offered covers / insurances,then it is quite possible to gain from this 5-10% of the price in the store."
