Buy one, get one half price...??

[PrestonLad]

I hate these offers. If I want an item, but don't want two, then I tend not to buy anything. I don't want to feel ripped off paying ten quid for an item that clearly the shop values at 7-50.

Same with 3 for 2 offers. Sometimes I buy the extra, but just as often, I don't buy anything. Ironically, if the price was ten quid for one... I'd probably pay it... but I often refuse to pay that same ten pounds if it's in a 3 for 2 offer... because it feels wrong.

Funnily enough, Buy one get one free offers don't have the same negative impact on me (even where it's clear that the price has been manipulated to accommodate the offer)... and I don't mind 5 for 4 offers... at least it feels like you're not being ripped if you just want one.

I know the sophisticated retailers will have worked hard on this... but there seems to have been a proliferation of those 3 for 2 and BOGOHP offers, and I really do wonder if they actually do improve profit. They certainly put me off shops like Boots, that do it all the time!

Is there a common view?

 

[deadgoodundies]

Yes they can do as often a buy 1 get 1 half price (or a buy 2 get 1 free) is a loss leader or the retailer might have stock to clear.
We quite often do it if some stock is not shifting as fast I would like as then it frees up more space in the warehouse to accommodate more profitable or new underwear

 

[Talay]

The average shopper can hardly count to three nevermind work out that 3 for 2 is essentially a 33% discount per unit when bought in bulk.

As for them working out that a "buy one, get 2nd one half price" actually works out to a 25% reduction, then that is less likely than a meteor falling their back yard.

If folk could actually add up, perhaps if they could even count, then we wouldn't have these stupid offers.

 

[David A]

If folk could actually add up, perhaps if they could even count, then we wouldn't have these stupid offers.

At a local convenience store last week they had a 'special' on some tinned food (can't remember what now): Buy 6 for £5. Individual price was 79p. This lady says to her companion that she'll buy 12 as the offer won't last.

She didn't realise that buying them individually would have saved her just over 50p!

 

[mala]

Ive recently had a 20% off the marked price sale. I find it works the best of all offers ive tried. Those who bother to read my signs appreciate the discount and those that dont read the signage get a very pleasnt surprise at checkout which im hopeing will lead to a certain amount of repeat custom.

 

[PrestonLad]

Ive recently had a 20% off the marked price sale. I find it works the best of all offers ive tried. Those who bother to read my signs appreciate the discount and those that dont read the signage get a very pleasnt surprise at checkout which im hopeing will lead to a certain amount of repeat custom.

That sort of sale... that is appreciated. Something simple. Something that doesn't feel like a rip off.

 

[PrestonLad]

The very very worst "sale" is sportsdirect.com - indeed it should (IMO) be illegal. It sets that company apart as charlatans, IMO.

I don't like (but have learned to accept) 10 foot posters that say

up to 70% Off Sale

But every item in that shop has an individual label with the same message, with the sizes of the characters obviously tiny... such that the 'up to' is very very small. That football, or those trainers will look like they're 70% off. But they very very often aren't. Sometimes it's a lot smaller reduction when you do the sums - and it is the individual labelling that sets it aside as particularly untrustworthy marketing.

I think it is utterly misleading, obviously deliberate and a disgrace.

 

[tonitarzan]

buy one get one free is always a catch by the retailers, its a way of getting rid of stock that customers didnt even need to buy in the first place lol

 

[ITsoldUK]

Special offers and their marketing all depend on what is being offered.

In my good old days of inventory management, we used to see offers placed for various reasons (food stuffs).

Such as reduce overstock of an SKU or shift short life stock (many of our RDC managers did not grasp FIFO ) and these are readily accepted and do not raise too many objections from customers.

When I moved into a major tool traders warehouse these type of offers were received totally differently and as you rightly point out, one example is that a client bought a power drill for £349.99 and in the offer flyer ONE WEEK later, the same drill was on offer for £199.99...

Not a happy camper but alas you can please some of the people some of the time...etc.

 

[Talay]

... one example is that a client bought a power drill for £349.99 and in the offer flyer ONE WEEK later, the same drill was on offer for £199.99...

Not a happy camper but alas you can please some of the people some of the time...etc.

I've done similar where you can return new unopened and I've just bought a new one and immediately returned it with the old full price receipt !

 

[beasty]

Buy One Get One

All Stock Must Go

Put this on yellow stickers in a different section and watch people grab full price items they would not have taken from the shelf

 

[mhall]

One of our staff once put up a sign that said "Buy 2 for the price of 3" for a laugh. It worked in that some people thought they were getting a bargain but they weren't so happy about being made to look foolish when they realised what he had done. Thankfully we put it down to a Market Research test we were doing. The staff member got a thick ear but you do have to wonder what people think when they are shopping

 

[MASSEY]

The supermarkets have ruined offers like this in my eyes.

Local co-op, buy 2 cartons of juice for 3 quid when they are only £1.39 each anyway. So you buy 2 and pay 22p more.

Also, buy 2 get one free on crisps. The crisps were usually 99 p each, this deal was 2 for £2.50 so you were essentially paying for half of the third bag.

I avoid this sort of sales tactic as often you just end up spending more than is needed in the first place.

I like buy one get on free when its genuine and not inflated prices to cover the free offering.

 

[Deleted member 61074]

In M&S over the weekend, buy one for £4.19, buy 2 for £9.00

 

[JMRidley]

Buy one, get one half price and 3 for 2 offers don't work for me either. Bookshops often have a 3 for 2 offer but I don't want 3, I'd rather have 1 with a small discount.

 

[TOKN]

Tell you what annoyed me today, buy 2 get two free, now i only wanted one, but i refused to pay for two and end up with. What would i be doing with them all? Just give me the low price to start with and let me choose what i do.

 

[Trisha&ChrisPlant]

Ive recently had a 20% off the marked price sale. I find it works the best of all offers ive tried. Those who bother to read my signs appreciate the discount and those that dont read the signage get a very pleasnt surprise at checkout which im hopeing will lead to a certain amount of repeat custom.

Yes, we've done exactly that throughout January and February and it's worked quite well for us too.

 

[amethyst201190]

I hate these offers. If I want an item, but don't want two, then I tend not to buy anything. I don't want to feel ripped off paying ten quid for an item that clearly the shop values at 7-50.

Same with 3 for 2 offers. Sometimes I buy the extra, but just as often, I don't buy anything. Ironically, if the price was ten quid for one... I'd probably pay it... but I often refuse to pay that same ten pounds if it's in a 3 for 2 offer... because it feels wrong.

Funnily enough, Buy one get one free offers don't have the same negative impact on me (even where it's clear that the price has been manipulated to accommodate the offer)... and I don't mind 5 for 4 offers... at least it feels like you're not being ripped if you just want one.

I know the sophisticated retailers will have worked hard on this... but there seems to have been a proliferation of those 3 for 2 and BOGOHP offers, and I really do wonder if they actually do improve profit. They certainly put me off shops like Boots, that do it all the time!

Is there a common view?

Most people nowadays really like for some promo specifically those online promos. Because some of the people have no time to shop in there own needs they would probably prefer to shop it in online business, I do believe that with this service we can surely make good things.

 

[Stuart Bailey]

shoppers love bargains and offers like these sell better than simple boring offers.

Further the more you have of something the more you will use it.

Ie if you buy two bottles of coke for the price of 1, a you may not have bought it in the first place and secondly you will drink a lot more of than if you had one bottle.

However I agree that i dont buy these offers, the main reason is that my fridge, or shelves in my kitchen aren't big enough to contain these offers!

 

[PrestonLad]

shoppers love bargains and offers like these sell better than simple boring offers.

Further the more you have of something the more you will use it.

Ie if you buy two bottles of coke for the price of 1, a you may not have bought it in the first place and secondly you will drink a lot more of than if you had one bottle.

However I agree that i dont buy these offers, the main reason is that my fridge, or shelves in my kitchen aren't big enough to contain these offers!

I'm not sure whether that's contradictory or not !

You say that these offers sell well, but you don't buy them. Maybe it is just the people on this site are different from the public, but a few people seem to say they avoid these offers.

To be clear, I was taking very specifically about 3 for 2 or Buy one, get one half price. They are fundamentally different from a BOGOF offer... because in the BOGOF offers, if you only want one of the item, you don't feel ripped off (except where the price is badly inflated).

But in, say, buy one get one half price, if I only want 1 item, I feel really ripped off.

I know that retailers can play with price in all these situations... but I'm talking of the psychology of it all.

 

[ThePyroLites]

It just decreases the gap between need and want - I want this, it's on offer, I need it. It also promotes excessive buying - to me it rings alarm bells that the price they are selling it for is highly marked up and there will be more firms out there offering it a lower price without the offer - it's all marketing hype to the majority who sadly for the lingo.

 

[SillyJokes]

Well it must work, cleverer people than us have tried and tested it.

The offers are annoying because when you've bought a 'special offer' every week for 5 months you get to realise there is nothing special about it.

Also, because there are so many offers, it begins to hurt your brain to have to do some fairly tricksey mental arithmetic just to figure out if you are wasting or saving 20p. If on average you buy 40 items thats a lot of time and effort. Annoying.

Recently I started going to the market on a Saturday because there is an excellent baker there who sells proper bread, a substance tesco are incapable of producing. I also get my veg from a stall and meat from the butcher. I get a coffee at the new independent cafe. I wonder if tesco notice I've gone?

 

[simon field]

I'm sure they're wringing their hands sillyjokes

 

[Talay]

I think you'd be amazed at just how many shopping lists are put together not on the basis of need but on the basis of what offers are on at that point in time. Thus, to the brain dead lemmings who make up the majority of shoppers, those providing the "discounts" are actually directing sales as opposed to merely exerting a minor influence in shopping habits.

The giro brigade of course believe the 99p shop is cheapest of all.

 

[TOKN]

Just thought I'd let you know about today's best special offer. Lucozade 750ml, £1.79 or 2 for £4.

 

[TOKN]

I stocked up, thanks BP garage. Great value as ever.

 

[Stuart Bailey]

that reminds me of the time I bought some food for £4.20. I gave the young woman a five pound note. She said have you got the 20p.

I gave her the 20p and she then game me back 5 x 20 p coins.