Discounted-Sale attracts us like a magnet
I am sure every one finds it fascinating to read about those discounted sales, which take place in every city, malls and exhibitions. There are even some special markets where we can find such sales going on for round the year. Most of us especially ladies (my apologies, if any lady happens to be reading it) would jump to grab the opportunity to make it crowded affair. You only have to see the number of people attending such ‘sales’ to believe me. Being a marketing professional, I know the reality and mathematics of these sales.

The truth behind such sales
I agree that there is lot of fun shopping in such sales where every thing on sale looks so cheap and attractive. Some times the price tag shows the cost of a particular item Rs. 1999/ and they cross it with the help of a marker to make it 999/ and then they offer a 50% discount on it to make it 500/ finally. That is so amazing to see a big crowd rushing to grab the items before any one else snatches the opportunity. That is the secret of success of these kinds of sales. They never try to check the quality or defects of such items before making the payments.

I know this is lot of fun
However, are you aware that they are not selling their products for your benefit but their own, they are only cashing out on the mentality? They know the psychology of the masses that any thing on reduced price would bring public on mass scale and once they would come and see people shopping, they would not be able to stop themselves from purchasing. I have seen such sales going on forever in different expensive malls, where the rates of shops are in millions and keeping their sales going round the year is a costly affair. But once you see the quality and check their rates carefully you would know the facts immediately.

There are different kind of sales to attract people for shopping, however most ‘sales’ either are seasonal or the ones going on for ever in fixed shopping complexes. The sales, which are seasonal mostly in particular festival times when companies offer discount to clear their dead stocks or defected pieces to get rid of such items and cash out their dead money, these are all right as people with lesser money can go out and shop for almost throwaway prices although quality would not be all that good. They also sale products those have lost the seasonal attraction, the material useful for other season. They generally go for the sales of woolen dresses in summers and cotton dresses in winters.

The other kind of ‘sale’ that goes on forever is the one where one has to be careful because that is nothing but manipulation. They have too high-tagged rates to reduce to make them look as genuine besides the brand names they use are also similar to big brands to make customers fall easy prey. One has to be very careful to check every point very carefully as some of them even use their own staff as customer to make you believe that the sale is real.

Be very careful with ‘up-to’ signboards

You must have seen display boards showing ‘discount up to 50%’, here comes the catch. When you enter in to the shop and pick out on an item to see its price tag that shows the discount of 15 to 20% and when you enquire about it they would show you the different counters where different discounts would be offered. The discounts offered on items @50% are in fact not worth at even 90%. But most people come out buying some thing or other just for the sake of shopping even if the cost of those items are in fact higher than their actual price in the market.

This is not wise to shop on weekends, as these are extra crowded days and your choice become limited to leftovers. Never purchase just because you think they are offering it cheaper but go for the items, which you find useful and worth. Check the quality very carefully as these items maybe defected at most of the times. I am sure you would be careful about the size because making a compromise just because you are saving a few bucks is not wise. Finally avoid out of fashion, out of size, defective and fake brands just because they are offering reduced prices in the name of sales.