Just nosing on the CR site. Found the road shoes the current Mrs TJ ( not that one) is getting for Christmas. I bought them in early November, reduced and are in a new sale for more than I paid. So not really a sale, is it?
Is this just a marketing thing on making people think they are getting a bargain, rather than offering genuine sale prices?

genuine sale prices

I hate to disappoint you, but I suspect there is no such thing as a ‘genuine sale’

Course there is Crikey,

A place is selling Commencal Meta AM29ers for the price less than trade/purchase price.

That’s got to be a sale ?

Hmmm…

I’d view that as a hard headed commercial decision which acknowledges that said product hasn’t sold and therefore needs to be moved on. 😉

I think in the past ‘Sales’ were just a way of moving on unsold stock, but now, thanks to the clever people who have made retail into a science, are seen as part of the way goods are sold. Consequently, we expect sales, we wait for sales, we go shopping in the sales…

Maybe it’s me getting older and more cynical, but the majority of ‘sales’ are the way the retail industry works and viewed objectively if such a thing is possible, smell like BS.

It’s very simple really, people have been brainwashed to believe Sales means bargains when really all it means is stuff being sold. You have to shop round to see if its a bargain. We have a carpet shop in Newbury that had “Sales”running for years.

Look at the dispatches progamme the other day about TKmax and outlet centrers.All these made up RRPs and stuff made just for outlet shops QUITE AN EYE OPENER.

I think it’s about being savvy and not buying stuff you don’t need just because a retailer hits you with an inflated RRP and a massive hard to resist ‘saving’. Just look at those jewellery channels that sell a ring with a RRP of £1500 for £9.00. Or DFS!

Find what you want and do some research and don’t get caught up in the moment. They pray on the greed that exists within all of us.

I think sales and artificial RRP inflation are one of the biggest problems for retail. RRP’s are not even slightly relevant anymore unless the brands that run them protect them which very few do. A lot of brands just give a RRP that’s far higher than the expected retail price to allow for a discount to be given and still make a margin.

The main reason RRP’s get used is because they avoid the legality that stops you using was/is pricing unless it actually was the previous price. It really should be illegal in the same way. It preys on greed and in extreme circumstances it’s a pure con.

We try and avoid discounting throughout the year, and are constantly compared to other retailers who offer discounted products i.e. RRP £500 special price £150. We could sell the same item for a straight £150 at full retail and most general customers would buy the discounted item, and don’t believe you when you tell them it’s an inflated RRP that means nothing.

Some people will always walk if they can’t get a discount even if the price is genuinely good to start with. And now you’ve got a high street full of massive reductions a week before Christmas because no-one wants to be beaten in the race to the bottom.

Edit: That was a long rant….