To boycott 3 for 2 places?

[PontOffelPock]

Went into Boots today as I needed a Photo frame. Heart fell when I saw that the one I wanted was in the 3 for 2 promotion with the gift sticker things. Refusing to buy it singly and feel guilty that I'd missed an offer, I then proceeded to spend the next hour searching for 2 more things to buy, before giving up and leaving empty handed.

3 for 2 gifts are just a waste of time and more often than not result in an aborted purchase because many of us aren't organised enough to choose 3 gifts in one trip. Same with online discount codes where the shops expect that most customers will find one. Why can't the price be the price and save us all hassle? Bah!

If they are Branded goods they will follow the RRP'S where they can. The people who plan these promotions are given a markdown budget for their departments that they can spend on discounting certain items.

They have a gross margin target to reach so if some items are too high in cost price they won't be added. That's usually why Duplo won't be in there. The cost price of Branded goods like Lego and Duplo are very high as the retailer will have had Licensing fees or Royalties added on to the cost price from the manufacturer.

Asda always plan with lower gross margins than Boots and use products as "loss leaders" to get you in the door.

3 for 2's do invoke either a panic buy or a kind of cognitive dissonance in the consumer. Unless you have a store in Poland where shoppers will carefully assess 3 for 2, and shop in groups to collate discounts. (out of all my markets this country has the biggest promotional "uptake")

If you feel the prices are temporarily inflated the law states that a price must remain in place for 28 days before it can be marked down.

After 21 years in this game I tend to avoid sales and discounts, hunt for the best RRP and buy an item if I feel I want it enough to deserve the value. But then I probably know a few more of the cost prices and Margins than most.

Interesting post Wally.
Presumably it has been shown that 3 for 2 brings in higher sales than single items discounted by a 1/3, because of the panic-buy effect?