Ever wondered how some retailers manage to
have so many sales;
How they could afford to offer such big juicy discounts so
often?
Yes I thought you did, so I thought I might give you a few
clues..
It has come to be an accepted fact amongst the
retail fraternity, that the best way to sell more is to seduce your
customers with how much they are saving when they spend money. (Its
funny how when you spell it out the contradictions become crystal
clear.) "Buy the new... before Christmas and you get it half
price." Well I will let you into a little secret that everyone
really knows anyway, if they are honest with themselves, and that
is that the super new ...was and never will be the price the
retailer has just shouted about, apart from for the minimum time to
satisfy the ever changing consumer retail pricing laws.
I hope that hasn't shocked anyone or turned us
all into inveterate cynics, because it dosnt need to. Its all a bit
like a magical show. We all know magic is really sleight of hand
and misdirection, but somehow we want it to be so much more. We
feel a need to spice up our sometimes hard lives, for there to be
something happening that is truly magical. Just so with big
savings. How great do we feel when we come back from an outlet
Village or a large store and proudly claim, "Hi Darling, look how
much I saved today." Well the saving is the misdirection; What you
have just done is what the retailer wanted, your eye has been
caught by the saving, so stopping you concentrating on whether what
you actually bought was what you actually wanted and was good value
for money.
Well at the risk of being a killjoy, I am going
to suggest a new tactic for buying, that works for pretty much
everything. Look very hard at the item you are interested in and
decide whether you truly like it and whether it is fit for the
purpose you had in mind. (Could just as easily be something to
dazzle in that evening, a new mode of transport, or a sofa for the
sitting room.) If the answer is yes, your second and only other
decision is this. Do I think it is a reasonable or fair price? Look
away from the misdirection, the saving, and concentrate on what you
are SPENDING. That way you should end up with something you want at
a price you were happy to pay.