Over the last couple of days I have had a bit of an argument with a couple of others on Twitter with regards to discounts. In this case, it was about the advertising of 60% discounts.
Now lets speak up front and honest here. No company, not a single one, can genuinely offer such a large amount of money off without putting it there in the first place. There just isn’t any other way around it.
In this day and age of honesty and transparency, enormous, manufactured discounts like this don’t have a place in an industry which is trying to clean up it’s image and try to portray itself as one to be respected and which commands a degree of prestige. Offering 60% off isn’t going to help do that. This sort of thing may have worked a decade ago and when I was still in nappies, but when customer after customer walks through our door asking just to give them their lowest price in the first place, it really is time to re-think strategies.
Customers don’t want to negotiate sales tactics and ‘discounts’. They want to know what they have to pay and that’s it. And one tactic which is really getting backs up at the moment is the “buy it now and I can take £2000 off, but you have to sign by the weekend”. People can never understand why a price has to be thousands less today, then loads more tomorrow. It just doesn’t make sense and people see through it. They just have to be strong enough to say no to the salesmen.
Why is it that companies feel only able to sell on price and not on product, quality and service? At the end of the day, our products are our best advert, they reflect our industry, not prices. It’s time we all grew a pair and took a bit more pride in the wares that we sell. Think of it this way; when someone asks for a discount, that is a polite way of saying that they don’t think you’re worth what you’re asking. Do you really want people thinking you’re not worth their money and not worth making a little bit of profit? I know I wouldn’t.
A decade ago you were in nappies? Aren’t you 23? Good points though. It cheapens the product and the industry when stupid discounts and pressure “by now to save” situations forced on customers.
Reminds me of DFS and their never ending sale, after a while it becomes a joke.
The title of your post is clap trap really . discounts do not disrespect customers . Do I feel disrespected in Richer Sounds getting a discount, I recently bought 3 LED tvs i cant remember the exact figure but i offered cash to round it down to the full £100 a quick caculation told me that if I paid by card they would get a similar mount of cash. The products were already discounted and one was probably a loss leader Did I feel disrespected haggling over the price of my wifes new car? No All the major supermarkets attract… Read more »
DGB you are spot on. Lets remember that we sell a purpose made product for that house, it has never been offered for sale before so can not be done at a sale price.
We offer a volume discount, it is clearly explained in the written quotes we send and customers appreciate the transparency of our pricing. There is a massive difference between this and the “let me just phone my manager” price structure!
I’m in the states so maybe it’s slightly different, but companies are obviously in business to make a profit. I don’t see what’s so “tricky” or wrong about that–companies need to make money. It’s not a secret that prices are marked up significantly from what the distributor pays the manufacturer for the product. I think in today’s economy especially, being able to offer a discount (and advertise that discount) is a way of telling the customer: we know you need our product and we need your business, so we’re heavily discounting this product so that we can both get what… Read more »