4 ms·

> All flavors get the same shelf space, Parmesan Garlic always sells out quickly, and Safeway appears to be happy to forgo the lost sales of Parmesan Garlic tri

> All flavors get the same shelf space, Parmesan Garlic always sells out quickly, and Safeway appears to be happy to forgo the lost sales of Parmesan Garlic triscuits that they could have made if they'd just had them in stock. Imho this is probably due to the fact that they make more than enough money during the sales periods. If somebody shows up during the sales period, with the intention of getting Parmesan Garlic, they very likely will still end up buying another flavor even if Parmesan Garlic ain't in stock anymore. This is easily justified if somebody went to the store just for the Triscuit sale.

thaumasiotes 7y ago
The sales aren't announced. They just happen. There have been many times when I specifically went to buy triscuits, and couldn't do it because they happened to be on sale.
- freeflight 7y ago
  Those are some really weird sales then, what use is the sale if nobody knows about it? In Germany, most grocers have little leaflets where the majority of sales are announced a bit ahead of time. Aldi makes a lot of consumer goods business with that, when they sold their first desktop in the mid-90s, all of them built by Medion in the UK, it was a huge deal with long waiting lines even before the stores opened and them running out of stock in a matter of hours.
  - thaumasiotes 7y ago
    > Those are some really weird sales then, what use is the sale if nobody knows about it? OK, it's possible that there's a low-profile outlet for releasing news of upcoming discount periods, and I just don't know about it. However, I can list several effects of the sale that occur whether or not shoppers know about it in advance of coming to the store: - You might choose to buy more of something than otherwise, since it's cheaper right now. - As a special case, you might have planned to buy zero of something, only to increase that amount when you notice it's on sale. - You might choose to buy a discounted item in preference to the non-discounted item you were originally planning to buy.
    - AnthonyMouse 7y ago
      In addition to that, there are psychological effects. You go to the store and find things unexpectedly on sale, which makes you want to go back to the store. Then when you do something else is on sale, which pleases you again and reinforces you coming back to the store. The fact that one $3 thing you bought was unexpectedly on sale but every time you go to the store you spend $200 on other stuff is a thing that the store is aware of.
      - arcticbull 7y ago
        Ah yeah I hadn't considered the random reinforcement effect. Devious, really.

thaumasiotes 7y ago

The sales aren't announced. They just happen. There have been many times when I specifically went to buy triscuits, and couldn't do it because they happened to be on sale.

freeflight 7y ago
Those are some really weird sales then, what use is the sale if nobody knows about it? In Germany, most grocers have little leaflets where the majority of sales are announced a bit ahead of time. Aldi makes a lot of consumer goods business with that, when they sold their first desktop in the mid-90s, all of them built by Medion in the UK, it was a huge deal with long waiting lines even before the stores opened and them running out of stock in a matter of hours.
- thaumasiotes 7y ago
  > Those are some really weird sales then, what use is the sale if nobody knows about it? OK, it's possible that there's a low-profile outlet for releasing news of upcoming discount periods, and I just don't know about it. However, I can list several effects of the sale that occur whether or not shoppers know about it in advance of coming to the store: - You might choose to buy more of something than otherwise, since it's cheaper right now. - As a special case, you might have planned to buy zero of something, only to increase that amount when you notice it's on sale. - You might choose to buy a discounted item in preference to the non-discounted item you were originally planning to buy.
  - AnthonyMouse 7y ago
    In addition to that, there are psychological effects. You go to the store and find things unexpectedly on sale, which makes you want to go back to the store. Then when you do something else is on sale, which pleases you again and reinforces you coming back to the store. The fact that one $3 thing you bought was unexpectedly on sale but every time you go to the store you spend $200 on other stuff is a thing that the store is aware of.
    - arcticbull 7y ago
      Ah yeah I hadn't considered the random reinforcement effect. Devious, really.