4 ms·

Why the downvotes / disagreement? “People using coupons -> worse customers” makes sense to me. The shop isn’t getting more money from these customers.

ipaddr 3y ago
Not true. A dollar off coupon will encourage purchasing otherwise ignored products. I buy toothpaste. A dollar off coupon will encourage another brand purchase to a more expensive product that may get repeated. The shop may get addition money by having me buy other items to save me the time of multiple store visits. There is a reason why each week a different item goes on sale. That loss leader leads to more purchases
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- fireflash38 3y ago
  But would you continue to buy it afterwards, or just chase the discounts? Aka:are you truly a "conversion" or just a single discount sale?
  - Tomte 3y ago
    Doesn‘t really matter if the discounted price still makes you a profit.
  - zakki 3y ago
    Not continuing to buy doesn't make someone worst customer. What about turn out it is a worst product so they need to offer a discount?
    - mewpmewp2 3y ago
      I never buy anything discounted, because if it is such a good item, why did you have tk discount it.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
- anonymouskimmer 3y ago
  > There is a reason why each week a different item goes on sale. That loss leader leads to more purchases Except that I, the person who already buys that product, buys nothing, or buys it from another store, because it's no longer in stock when I make my purchases in the evening. (I've since changed to shopping in the morning or early afternoon, so run into sales pricing outages much less frequently, but the general point stands.)
throwaway8877 3y ago
Careful there. People also may also not feel good about being taken advantage off. They may also not feel good about valued less than a little more paying people.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
bombcar 3y ago
It’s the other way around. Not all coupon users are worse customers (who would refuse a 5$ discount offered during checkout?) - but the worst customers will also go out of their way to find coupons.
- AnthonyMouse 3y ago
  But even that isn't so simple, because there are at least three types of people who use coupons. The first are the ones coupons nominally target -- not people who go out of their way to find coupons. Just ordinary new customers who need an incentive to try the product once and then might become repeat customers. These are actually great when you can get them, but they're not that big a percentage of coupon users. The second is the, let's say, analysts. Smart retirees who now have lots of free time and can use it to find a good deal. Tech savvy customers who know how to use advanced search features to find the best deal or are willing to set up a scraper to send them an alert. These customers are great too -- you don't make much margin from them, but you make a little, and then they immediately go away and leave you to keep their money in peace. And when you offer a good deal, they will come to you, so your margin is lower but so is your marketing expense. The real problem is Karens. They don't know how to read but own a fanny pack that says "the customer is always right" and want to spend two hours arguing with you to try to get you to accept an expired coupon for the wrong product over something that has a $0.17 margin.
  - medstrom 3y ago
    Some of your "analysts" seem like they can be net loss. I'm thinking someone who only ever buys the groceries that are at least 50% off, having no particular recipe in mind so no need to combine with regular-price items. Grabs them by the truckload when the sale comes, then lives off their freezer for months. I don't know if it's common to do it so perfectly though.
    - pizzaknife 3y ago
      Spiral cut ham is on intense markdown atm. make room in your deep freeze

ipaddr 3y ago

Not true. A dollar off coupon will encourage purchasing otherwise ignored products. I buy toothpaste. A dollar off coupon will encourage another brand purchase to a more expensive product that may get repeated. The shop may get addition money by having me buy other items to save me the time of multiple store visits. There is a reason why each week a different item goes on sale. That loss leader leads to more purchases

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
fireflash38 3y ago
But would you continue to buy it afterwards, or just chase the discounts? Aka:are you truly a "conversion" or just a single discount sale?
- Tomte 3y ago
  Doesn‘t really matter if the discounted price still makes you a profit.
- zakki 3y ago
  Not continuing to buy doesn't make someone worst customer. What about turn out it is a worst product so they need to offer a discount?
  - mewpmewp2 3y ago
    I never buy anything discounted, because if it is such a good item, why did you have tk discount it.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
anonymouskimmer 3y ago
> There is a reason why each week a different item goes on sale. That loss leader leads to more purchases Except that I, the person who already buys that product, buys nothing, or buys it from another store, because it's no longer in stock when I make my purchases in the evening. (I've since changed to shopping in the morning or early afternoon, so run into sales pricing outages much less frequently, but the general point stands.)

throwaway8877 3y ago

Careful there. People also may also not feel good about being taken advantage off. They may also not feel good about valued less than a little more paying people.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

bombcar 3y ago

It’s the other way around. Not all coupon users are worse customers (who would refuse a 5$ discount offered during checkout?) - but the worst customers will also go out of their way to find coupons.

AnthonyMouse 3y ago
But even that isn't so simple, because there are at least three types of people who use coupons. The first are the ones coupons nominally target -- not people who go out of their way to find coupons. Just ordinary new customers who need an incentive to try the product once and then might become repeat customers. These are actually great when you can get them, but they're not that big a percentage of coupon users. The second is the, let's say, analysts. Smart retirees who now have lots of free time and can use it to find a good deal. Tech savvy customers who know how to use advanced search features to find the best deal or are willing to set up a scraper to send them an alert. These customers are great too -- you don't make much margin from them, but you make a little, and then they immediately go away and leave you to keep their money in peace. And when you offer a good deal, they will come to you, so your margin is lower but so is your marketing expense. The real problem is Karens. They don't know how to read but own a fanny pack that says "the customer is always right" and want to spend two hours arguing with you to try to get you to accept an expired coupon for the wrong product over something that has a $0.17 margin.
- medstrom 3y ago
  Some of your "analysts" seem like they can be net loss. I'm thinking someone who only ever buys the groceries that are at least 50% off, having no particular recipe in mind so no need to combine with regular-price items. Grabs them by the truckload when the sale comes, then lives off their freezer for months. I don't know if it's common to do it so perfectly though.
  - pizzaknife 3y ago
    Spiral cut ham is on intense markdown atm. make room in your deep freeze