When a Sale isn’t a Sale

Do you enjoy getting a good deal? I know I do and so do most consumers. The reality is, very seldom do we know if we’re getting a good deal because “the deal” is always relative. For example, a $300 smart phone is a good deal when you realize the normal price is $600. In other words, when you think you’re saving money you believe you’re getting a good deal and that’s extra enticement when it comes to the purchasing decision.

How would you feel if you were told you were saving 50% off of the original $300 price of luggage only to find out you saved nothing? I know I’d be upset because it’s very likely I would have factored in the “sale” price into my buying decision, consciously or unconsciously.

In a class action lawsuit, a California court recently said consumers have a right to sue retailers if the price advertised is fake. Kohl’s, the retailer involved in the suit, says its advertised price was truly a sale and besides that, “the lawsuit was originally dismissed because a judge ruled that the customer couldn't sue because he hadn't lost money by buying merchandise that wasn't as much of a bargain as he thought it was.”

So imagine you have the luggage and it works as well as you expected, would you still be upset that the “sale” price was just the price that you’d get anytime you visited the store? Would you feel manipulated to some degree?

It’s one thing to buy something and then realize you could have purchased it elsewhere for less – shame on you for not doing your homework. However, should you have to do your homework to know whether or not the store is telling you the truth about their "sale"?

In an article titled “Permission Marketing,” in Fast Company, William C. Taylor wrote, “This year, the average consumer will see or hear one million marketing messages – that's almost 3,000 per day.” Wow! Now here’s a scary thought – that quote is 15 years old! How much more do you think you’re exposed to with the explosion of the internet and social media? No one can possibly process it all and that’s why so much of our decision-making happens at the subconscious level. In fact, Martin Lindstrom, author of Buyology, contends that 85% of what we do on a daily basis comes from unconscious decisions.

One way we wade through the myriad of choices comes from decision triggers, or reliable bits of information, that guide us into what we believe are good choices. Seeing “sale” is one such trigger. Studies show that simply by advertising a “sale” or using some other feature like a yellow “Everyday Low Price” sticker can sometimes double sales even if the price hasn’t changed at all.

When I teach people about influence I stress ethics because I want students to feel good about how they apply their new knowledge. As people work in small groups to come up with some criteria about what constitutes an ethical request every group always mentions honesty and truthfulness. To a person they feel if someone is going to make an ethical attempt to persuade another individual they have to be telling the truth.

If you consider what I just shared about decision triggers and how retail sales increase based on using the word “sale,” do you think it’s deceptive of a store to advertise sale prices when in fact they’re not any different that the regular prices you can get every day at the store? In other words, if you shopped at Kohl’s every week and saw the 50% off luggage, wouldn’t you come to realize the price is just $150 because it was never sold for $300?

Like it or not, when we see a sale being advertised it gets us into stores far more than if there was no sale. Once we’re in the store we buy more so wouldn’t it be nice to know we’re truly getting the good deal that’s advertised?

Brian, CMCT® 
influencepeople 
Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.