Simple shopping change that could save you thousands each year

Sales seem to be year-round these days. I was walking through my local shopping centre at the weekend and was surprised to see so many sales signs up.

It’s March. What possible reason could they have for running a massive sale? Plenty, I discovered.

One sign I found said “Stock Take”, another claimed they had a “Big Brand Sellout! ON NOW!” Many didn’t even state a reason for purported reduced prices. They simply had “SALE” emblazoned on signs at the front of their stores.

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All of them instantly captured my attention.

It begs the question: If a store is always running a sale, are they ever really running a sale? And adding to this mental noise are the online sales constantly feeding into our phones and devices in the form of ads, notifications and emails.

They all have the same goal, which is to motivate customers to make purchases at times when they weren’t necessarily planning to.

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I reached out to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and a spokesperson explained under Australian Consumer Law (ACL), pricing and sales claims displayed by businesses, both instore and online “must be genuine and not deliberately mislead customers”.

This includes the use of “ambiguous claims about the size and scope of discounts and the reason for the sale” to “create a false sense of urgency”.

“The Australian Consumer Law (ACL) prohibits businesses from engaging in misleading conduct or making misleading representations,” the spokesperson added.

“This includes false or misleading statements about the quality or characteristics of goods, or about prices, price savings and discounts.

“Businesses that represent that goods are on sale or discounted must have a legitimate basis for making any of these statements. Businesses that make claims about closing down must also have a legitimate basis for these claims.”

Peter Resanceff, Consumer Psychologist, Behaviouralist and Brand Strategist, told 9honey sales in both the physical retail and digital retail environments are “one of the most powerful promotional tools in the marketer’s toolbox”.

“Retailers have solid evidence of the effectiveness of promoted sales – real life turnover figures show that promoted sales can have the ability to significantly lift a store’s turnover during the sales period,” he said.

“When combined with a sense of urgency and playing upon the feeling of potentially missing out (eg. “Must End Sunday”, “Never To Be Repeated Discounts’), the uplift in turnover becomes even more pronounced.”

What the different sales tags at Coles and Woolies mean

And there’s a reason most sales signs are displayed on red or yellow backgrounds.

“In colour psychology, we know that the colour red attracts peoples’ attention because our psyche is programmed to associated red with danger. Red is an attention grabber!” Resanceff explained.

Added to this, red is associated with “reduce prices in retail environments”, something customers have become attuned to.

But yellow is equally as powerful.

“Yellow has become part of the visual language of marked-down or price-discounted items – it’s become a familiar and recognised visual cue in shopping environments to reduced-price items,” he explains.

“Yellow price stickers are also highly visible in a shopping environment – they simply stand out, making it easier for shoppers to spot discounted items amongst those that are not,” Resanceff added.

Yellow is also associated with “positivity, happiness and optimism,” he said, which can “subconsciously encourage shoppers to buy discounted items”.

The ACCC advises consumers to “examine claims about discounts or savings made by businesses carefully, particularly during any sales period and look out for any disclaimers or qualifications”.

“Consumers should also consider whether the price displayed during a sale represents a genuine change from the non-sale price,” they added.

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Businesses need to make money and are well within their rights to use whatever strategies they like to do this, within Australian Consumer Law. But what about consumers who, unaware of the tactics at play, constantly find themselves giving in to them, despite their own financial goals?

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How supermarkets have changed over the years

Resanceff says customers should simply “ignore” sales and “shop around” as needed.

“Just because a store is promoting itself as being ‘on sale’ does not guarantee that you will find the best deal or the lowest price in that store,” he said.

“Many retailers spot-check their competitors prices on a daily basis (including sale prices) and adjust their own prices accordingly. Or they are willing to price-match their competitors, if asked.”

Customers simply need to wait until they actually need to make a purchase, and at that time, use the “ultimate price comparison tool right in front of us – the internet”, he said.

“Sitting down with a cup of tea and spending fifteen minutes searching online can help you avoid the hype and pressure of an ‘on sale, must end Sunday, never-to-be-repeated’ shopping environment and still secure a great deal.”

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