Can someone explain this to me (an anti-vent)

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I took my son to Sears to buy shoes today. I had budgeted $50, and found a pair that we liked that was $54.99 marked down to $39.99. He needed socks too, so we went to that department and they had 3 packs marked down to $2.99 which seemed like a good deal so I picked up 2, figuring I'd have money left over for tax.

I then went to the register where the whole thing rang up for $36 and change.

Now, of course I'm not complaining about the $13 extra dollars in my bank account, I was delighted! But I am also confused. Apparently there was a 20% discount for buying multiple items, and a 10% discount for something else. However, there was no sign, nothing to indicate such. I thought the point of a sale was to convince you to buy more, but clearly, it didn't work if I didn't know about it before I decided to buy. If I'd realized that the socks were only $2 instead of $3 I might have bought 3 packages or added some underwear to my shopping, but I didn't because I thought I'd spent all my money.

So, I'm curious, what benefit is there to a store to have "secret" sales?

 

[sharonmickey]

Our Sears had a big sign outside that said Friends and Family sale on Sunday. Perhaps that is why you saved extra.

I agree though, you would think the store would advertise the sale.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Hmmmm, maybe they had a sign outside the outside entrance. I didn't see one outside the mall entrance we came in through.

We used to have a Hecht's near us that was always this way. I'd pick up shirts that were marked $10 down to $5 and then we'd get to the register and the woman would say "Really they're only $3 and here's a 50% off coupon you can use". Once I took something to the register and the woman warned me "Just so you know, the price on this one is correct, it's actuall $5.00", because that was a rare thing. It was great, but frankly I wasn't surprised when they went out of business -- I mean who does that?

 

[2Kds2K9]

I have some sort of an answer for you. I work retail. Every week we get about 50- 100 markdowns from corporate. Sometimes we are able to get to all those markdowns and sometimes we aren't. Therefore, when a customer comes up to pay for their purchase, some of the items are cheaper than what is marked. A nice surprise for them!

 

[walkdmc]

I think the managers themselves have a hard time keeping up with all the "sales" these days. I also think stores have stopped making all the signs that accompany the sales for financial reasons and general laziness. I think with the advent of internet stores/sales, actual brick and mortar stores have gotten a lot lazier about attracting customers to sales/displays.

So, I blame the economy and the internet, my scapegoats.

 

[bicker]

We were at Kohl's yesterday, and were looking at window panels. We found one that would do, but it was too expensive. As we were looking at others, someone came through putting up a sign advertising a discount on the window panels. I think that walkdmc hit close to the mark: There is such a discount-mania in this country that the best way to sell things sometimes is to make people think that they're getting a deal, so you keep the regular price high enough so that you can discount it periodically to foster purchases by those kinds of customers. However, the point of doing that is to make the most profit, so it makes no sense eating up much of the extra profit you get that way by having a lot of extra labor to pay to ensure that the signs go up before the store opens on the first day of the sale. They know that the signs will have enough effect, on the target market, even though it takes a few hours to get all the signs up, and would probably have enough effect even if some of the signs never get up. People love the surprise of paying less for something, so even that has a benefit.

 

[PollyannaMom]

...So, I'm curious, what benefit is there to a store to have "secret" sales?

You left with pleasant feelings and are now extremely likely to go back there again, right?

 

[TreslovesWDW]

I was at Sears yesterday and I did not see any signs,wish I knew.We were shoe shopping too and he needed socks..lol

 

[maggiew]

We were at Sears yesterday too. My DD needed a 1 piece bathing suit for gym class. The tag said $54 but when we checked out, the price was $36. I didn't see a sign for any sales, but I was happy!

I did give them my Shop Your Way Rewards card. So maybe that was the Friends and Family sale someone else mentioned? I know I didn't have that much in rewards. I only have about $1 in rewards because I just got a notice a couple days ago.

Maggie

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

You left with pleasant feelings and are now extremely likely to go back there again, right?

I guess, but if they'd put up a sign I would have left with pleasant feelings and 13 less dollars!

I'm not complaining, obviously I'm not, I'm just kind of befuddled.