Maybe it is just me getting older, but it seems that something just isn’t right. The Black Friday frenzy in the U.S. is now spreading into Canada this year with many stores advertising special “Black Friday Sales”. And as Stompin Tom Conners would say, “We’re busy saving money, spending money we don’t got”.
Shopping had become not just a pastime in our society but an addiction. A few years ago, I was at a friends house for Christmas and there were a lot of people there for dinner. There were lots of new gifts being played with and it was a really nice Christmas type scene. And then someone asked the question, “What are you doing tomorrow?” The frenzied response, said with a loud shout, “SHOPPING!!!!!”
As I said, maybe it is just me, but the paper hadn’t even hit the floor from that Christmas gift giving bonanza and they had already moved from the present the moment into thinking about all the Boxing Day Deals that were waiting for them. They all started talking excitedly about the next day… and people accuse me of having attention deficit disorder.
What do you think?
Like the blog? Share it with others.
. ……… Bumpy Boobs
– A blog of a young woman who has just discovered she has breast cancer. Her writing is therapeutic for her, and is a help others going through this trying ordeal
The Intention Experiment with Lynn McTaggert
I hate shopping and I hate crowds, so I don’t get caught up in the “Sales” frenzy. I’ve only ever been to a Boxing Day sale once, and that was when I bought my first digital camera which was very expensive back then. It was 50% off, so it was worth my while braving the crowds that day.
A friend of my is addicted to “sales”. She went shopping with me once and tried to convince me to buy an expensive sweater because it was 50% off. Instead, I bought another sweater I preferred at full price, and it was cheaper than the one on sale (and easier to clean since the sweater on sale would have had to be dry cleaned – I pay attention to post sales cost of maintenance). My friend thought I was silly because it wasn’t on sale. I thought she was silly because her choice would have still been more expensive.
Stores also try to create the appearance of sales. Many years ago when I was shopping for a fridge, stove, washer and dryer, I spent a month visiting 6 major retail stores comparing their prices. When I had finally decided on the models I wanted, the store in question which had those models was having a 25% off sale. I walked into that store with my printed Excel spreadsheet of my month’s research and discovered that the store had bumped up their retail prices and then reduced them by 25% to a level that was higher than what they had advertised a month before. So, I spoke to the manager and showed him on my Excel spreadsheet how his prices had been the cheapest of the 6 stores a month before, but that now with his 25% off sale, it was cheaper for me to order the appliances from a U.S. store that would ship it to me in Canada. Not only did the manager give me the pricing from the previous month, but he also gave me free shipping to the new city I was moving to.
Another tip that I learnt from business school is that stores that promise $0 down and 0% interest for one year have their financing cost built into the selling price. When I bought a sofa and loveseat from a furniture store at a time when annual interest rates were about 4%, I asked the sales person if he would take 4% off the price of the furniture if I paid cash (i.e. cheque or debit) right then. He did indeed reduce the price by 4% – he understood business concepts.
Marketers do extensive studies on consumer behaviour, appealing to our emotions to make us spend more than we need to. Knowing some of their tricks is a good way not to fall into spending traps.
Thanks for sharing those gems Francoise.
I know when I see a “50% off you just start thinking, “how can I not afford it”