Shopping is technically the 5th most popular activity after sleeping, eating, having sex and working. Some people see shopping as a religious duty on week-ends, some consider it as rather an entertainment and/or socializing. Shopping can be fun when you find the best quality item with the best price tag in a very short time and within your budget,….humm, I think that’s too much asking, isn’t?
Most of the time however, it’s considered a nightmare because of word ‘shopping’ itself inherently implies looking out for the best deal!! The word ‘Best’ makes it highly complex process because it turns shopping it into an endless struggle for maximization, perfection and even personal accomplishment.
It all starts with “I want/need something…” and it ends by ‘buying that thing” a month after enduring head-aches, feeling disgust, sometimes loosing interest.
I wish buying was like the old days in Tunisia when it was so simple. I.e. If I wanted to buy a pair of shoes then I head down to Jancel on rue de Rome, or somewhere in 50 boutiques, get something I like in a few hours and head back home smiling.
Here, I’m constantly confronted with events called ‘Sale’ - and the like - that are supposedly to favor the customer ?!?. I’m going to try to demystify this concept of sale, by outlining the variety of sales we get in north america
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For the beginners, there is:
Christmas Sale : Starts Nov 1st and ends sometimes around January of the year after , with peek on Boxing day, Dec 26, but the best period is usually the year next, that’s when shoppers return their merchandise which goes again on sale for a discount price.
Mother’s day: Around May. Average sale, mostly on Jewelry and Makeup.
Father’s day: Was last sunday but since I’m alone, no one will buy me anything. Actually it seems like wifie left me a gift so I’ll go and check it later. This sale is also average; it targets men’s wear and electronics.
Canada Day (Independence day for the US) : July 1st Pretty good sale on almost everything.
Back to School Sale: Around Aug, everything for kids is on sale, but also some furniture and appliances.
Thanksgiving Sale: Around Oct/Nov, not significant.
Seasonal sales: like winter, spring, summer, etc….no material impact on prices per say, it’s just to post something on the window and attract customers. Keep in mind that in normal times, everything is virtually on sale, but not the real sale.
*** For the average connoisseur, it gets interesting and complicated with techniques like:
Mail-In-Rebate: This can happen anytime, it’s a rear discount and here’s how it works: You buy the item full price, and then you fill a lengthy form, attach receipts, UPC codes, and send everything to an office very far way expect a rebate cheque after 2+ months. This is a genius idea, because 80% of the buyers do not bother to fill the form, and 5% of the rest get their mail lost or forget to attach receipts.
Door crashers: Whoever comes first, gets a discount, the trick is that sometimes you have to camp in front of the store from 5 am, or even overnight if it’s big ticket item, like a TV or an XBOX 360
Open box items: Someone has returned an item, coz he was not happy with it or didn’t meet his needs. The items gets refurbished, checked and re-certified and put on sale for 50-75% of the original price.
Clearance event: Old fashion, old technology, old stuff that needs to get out of sight of the store manger. Items in this category drop as much as 80%
Closing down event: This is a bankruptcy. Prices go down so low and items get sold so fast, generally in 48hours, nothing is left, except the cash registry J
No Tax event: The sellers decide to absorb the 15% sales tax which means you get the item discounted of 15%, not significant.
Nightly online sales: One of My favorites. You sit tight around midnight and keep refreshing that web page until the prices drops from 500 to 350 J, hit add to cart, pay online, close down the browser and go to bed.
Bundles: Annoying strategy but works well. The seller suggests that if you buy item X, item Y then you get a bundle discount and if you add a third item, then you get a free something, with a fifth item, you get an extra warranty, etc. Basically, you end up buying stuff that you don’t need.
*** For the expert buyers, it gets even more challenging with methods like:
Price Match (when applicable): This is the mother of all marketing and sales technique. Normally, only big guys implement it in their policy. They guarantee their price against any competition. So if you find an item elsewhere cheaper, then they will price-match (sell it for the cheaper price) and give you a gift card with it, so you will NEVER ever go elsewhere for your next purchase J
Price Match - forever: Same as above, but for lifetime. Meaning if you bought the item say today, then they guarantee it for 3 months to 1 year so you have piece of mind. If during that time, you find it cheaper somewhere else, then drop by the store where you bought your original item and get the difference as a form of refund
Price Match - with a vengeance: Same as above, but not only they guarantee the price, they slash it for you only by up to 50%. I used this technique once to buy a 19” monitor 3 years ago for 200$ (when it was 450$)
Posting errors: These are cool mistakes by the sellers. Example, instead of posting 99$, they forget the first 9, so the price would then be 9$. This happened to me when I bought a wireless keyboard and mouse for 9%, instead of 98. These days’ sellers are getting smart and they’re changing their policy around price posting, especially for online merchandise.
Guaranteed sale items: Hard to find, but these are items that are guaranteed to remain on sale and even endure subsequent sale for long time, it’s very good coz it eases the stress of shopping
Early bird shopper’s discounts: A New item hits the market, first come, gets a discount. Not my type of sale, but some geeks and wannabes love to be on top of everything, including fashion wear and electronics
The power of coupons: if you know the name of the item you want to buy, just Google it and you’ll most likely find a coupon of 2$ for diapers or 150$ for a Dell laptop. Print the coupon take to the store or enter it in the coupon field for online purchases.
Not to mention that all of the above is also applicable to online shoppers…and again that’s a snapshot of all sale methods.
*** For the maniacs, everything that I mentioned is a JOKE compared to the power of EBAY, which I’m going to talk about sometime in the future…
