Every Day is a Sales Event – Sales Tactic #5
September 20, 2007
Today is a good day to shop. As was yesterday and will be tomorrow. At least that’s what retailers would like you to believe. Having a Sales Event is a favorite weapon in the arsenal of sellers and the fifth in the Sales Tactics Revealed series.
Shop, Shop, Shop
Why is it that every holiday seems to be all about shopping? We finally get a day off work, a break from earning money all week. We finally have time all to ourselves. At last, we can forget about the office and do whatever we want, yet the retailers get us to hit the stores looking for deals. How do they convince us, by having a “fabulous” sales event!
Reasons to Shop
The sellers have turned every holiday or life event into either a day we shop or a day we shop to prepare for. Every time you walk into a store, they are reminding you of some event that you need to spend money on, for example:
- Beginning of Summer
- Back to School
- Father’s Day
- Christmas
- Thanksgiving
- 4th of July
- Easter
- Labor Day
- March Madness
- Mother’s Day
- Valentines Day
- Halloween
- New Years
- Memorial Day
- Graduation
When there is no holiday or life event, they make up reasons to have a big sales event:
- Inventory Sale
- Customer Appreciation Event
- Spring Cleaning Sale
Warning Signs
• 4th of July Blowout • Holiday Sales Event
• Open now for our special Thanksgiving offer
• Countdown: 3 weeks, 2 days, 5 days until Christmas
Tactic in Action
Why do we drag ourselves out of bed the day after Thanksgiving? We have a day off, why can’t we just enjoy it? Why do we have to spend all day long being stressed out and waiting in line? I’ll tell you why, Black Friday is the first day of the year some retailers start to make a profit. They WANT you in those stores, they NEED you in those stores, and they’ll do whatever they can to get you there and spending money.
Protect Your Paycheck
Shop Offseason
Retailers will sometimes stock up on certain items to sell during a sales event. Think decorative lights during Christmas, candy for Halloween, or summer clothes for Beginning of Summer Sale. Once the event, holiday, or season is over they may find themselves with too much of certain products and start discounting it for faster sale. Try to shop at the end of sales events instead of the beginning and you can save money.
Sales Tactics
Sales Event is the 5th sales trick in the Sales Tactics Revealed series. Be sure to check out the first four as well: Don’t Miss Out, You’ll Be Sorry, Buy Now, Pay Later, and Rebate Ransom.
All posts by Ben Edwards
DivaJean, I definitely agree with your pricing policy. My goal when I shop for clothes is to buy each piece for under $20. It is a little limiting in what you can get but who cares, they’re just clothes.
That’s funny alo. Of course as shoppers we aren’t there every day so we don’t have that insight and might just pop in to look for some deals.
I used to walk at the mall when I was preggers. I quickly realized the sticker on the Macy’s entrance that read “Big Weekend Sale” was permanently affixed.
The bottom line is- you need to decide what your price is for a certain item and stand by it.
An example of this would be for a blouse, I refuse to pay over $20. To me, there is no reason to go above this cost. I can get a decent blouse on sale for this amount and get good use/value out of it.
I prefer to buy thru secondhand resources- starting at the Rescue Mission/Salvation Army type places- where the blouse might be found for as low as a dollar, then start working my way up in regards to store prices for blouses. Once a blouse is found of the least price/acceptable quality, I am done.
This being said, no one in my family is a “fashion horse.” We prefer to dress simply and have o ur resources for other stuff.
My principle of least cost/acceptable quality could be used for any purchase. We certainly do not get tricked into sales in this manner!
(But I do play the Black Friday games every year– I usually save a lot on routine purchases such as socks, henley style shirts, etc)