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Interesting. One of the reasons I prefer shopping at Trader Joe's instead of Albertson's is that they don't have constant stupid sales all the time. (Also bec

Interesting. One of the reasons I prefer shopping at Trader Joe's instead of Albertson's is that they don't have constant stupid sales all the time. (Also because TJs is usually 30% cheaper.) Maybe groceries are different?

gffrd 3y ago
Parent is right. "Discount buyers" are their own camp, and aren't buying on price, objectively—they're buying on perceived savings. Note that I say _perceived_. If you had a group of discount buyers shopping for chips, and split it in two groups … - Group A sees a bag of chips marked down from $5 to $3 - Group B sees the same bag of chips for $3 as "retail price" … you can expect to see more chip sales coming from Group A. Heck, you'd expect A to beat B even if the discounted price was _higher_ than the retail price. Now throw "limited time offer" or "first 50 people" in to the mix and watch them fly off the shelves …
- Ekaros 3y ago
  Lately in grocery stores I get this sort of feeling when I look at prices. I look at it and hey that is pretty decent looking price. And then I read the small print that has the non-sale regular price. And slight mental math oh I would save 50 cents on something I don't really need just now... Pass!
duxup 3y ago
Certainly it is about expectations. JC Penny was all about the sales. That's when you knew to shop. So they trained their customers for it and suddenly abandoned it and people didn't know what to think.
ignite 3y ago
It's the people. If you shop for "fun", then you probably like sales. It's a game. If, however, you don't like to shop, and you do it solely to acquire things, you probably don't like sales. Very clearly, Ron Johnson was in the latter category, while JC Penney shoppers were in the former. https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/j-c-penney-apologizes-for-former-apple-execs-moves/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/j-c-penney-apologize...
xp84 3y ago
Grocery store sales are the worst, because of how often they force you to buy absurd quantities, like 5 12-packs of canned sodas. Force, you ask? Yes, basically. The prices will be like $9.79, or "Buy 2, get 3 free". So you can buy 1 for basically $10, or 2 for $20, or 3 for $30, or 4 for $40, or 5 for $20. Recently cheese was $1.99 but "only if you buy 3." If you buy 2 they were $3.49 each. At least soda keeps a long time, but it's irritating to have to stock up on perishables or have to pay double.

gffrd 3y ago

Parent is right. "Discount buyers" are their own camp, and aren't buying on price, objectively—they're buying on perceived savings. Note that I say _perceived_. If you had a group of discount buyers shopping for chips, and split it in two groups … - Group A sees a bag of chips marked down from $5 to $3 - Group B sees the same bag of chips for $3 as "retail price" … you can expect to see more chip sales coming from Group A. Heck, you'd expect A to beat B even if the discounted price was _higher_ than the retail price. Now throw "limited time offer" or "first 50 people" in to the mix and watch them fly off the shelves …

Ekaros 3y ago
Lately in grocery stores I get this sort of feeling when I look at prices. I look at it and hey that is pretty decent looking price. And then I read the small print that has the non-sale regular price. And slight mental math oh I would save 50 cents on something I don't really need just now... Pass!

duxup 3y ago

Certainly it is about expectations. JC Penny was all about the sales. That's when you knew to shop. So they trained their customers for it and suddenly abandoned it and people didn't know what to think.

ignite 3y ago

It's the people. If you shop for "fun", then you probably like sales. It's a game. If, however, you don't like to shop, and you do it solely to acquire things, you probably don't like sales. Very clearly, Ron Johnson was in the latter category, while JC Penney shoppers were in the former. https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/j-c-penney-apologizes-for-former-apple-execs-moves/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/j-c-penney-apologize...

xp84 3y ago

Grocery store sales are the worst, because of how often they force you to buy absurd quantities, like 5 12-packs of canned sodas. Force, you ask? Yes, basically. The prices will be like $9.79, or "Buy 2, get 3 free". So you can buy 1 for basically $10, or 2 for $20, or 3 for $30, or 4 for $40, or 5 for $20. Recently cheese was $1.99 but "only if you buy 3." If you buy 2 they were $3.49 each. At least soda keeps a long time, but it's irritating to have to stock up on perishables or have to pay double.