Black Friday (say it isn’t so)
For those of you that are relatively new to the retail-shopping world we would like to provide for you a brief but enlightening education. Black Friday is a perfect example of some of the more notorious marketing ploys perpetrated by retail and department stores. Unfortunately it is also one of the few shopping days that retail customers can get really excited about. Read on and don’t become a victim of some of the trickier marketing ploys out there.
First, as I am sure most are aware, there exists a huge mark up for retail items, the sweater we buy in the store for $59.99 probably costs that store somewhere around $14.99 when they buy it from the manufacturer, talk about a profit margin. Now in reality the store does not expect to sell a lot of those sweaters at that starting price and the bulk of them will go at the fist mark down. They are expecting to sell out at their bottom line which on a day like Black Friday with a 50% off sale will be around $30 this is still a 50% mark up for the store. It was not always this way, you never saw a 40% off sale until the late 70’s early 80’s this is because retail stores starting popping up all over the place around that time and competition was fierce. So in an effort to drive traffic their way stores started to invent these marketing ploys to get the customers in the door.
Another common tactic is the mail in rebate and even more common and less obvious are those tempting gift cards. Most items that are listed as marked down or xxxx amount with a mail in rebate can be found online or in less trafficked stores for the same price all year round. The gift cards with certain stipulations are another thing to watch out for, beware the gift cards that require you to spend a certain amount before they can come into play and if you combine that feature with a narrow window where it can be used I suggest you get all of your holiday shopping done right then or miss out on any type of deal.
These are just a few of the clever scams retail outlets use to lure shoppers in the door. Although not criminal it is at the very least misleading and deceitful. Don’t kill yourself running around this Black Friday when many of those seemingly great deals can be found year round with just a bit of investigating on your part. Do our homework and be a savvy shopper, you will make your own deals.
All Star Limousine is a Long Island, New York based company with an extensive global reach; we provide expert Wedding, Special Event and Executive Travel services throughout the Tri-State area and the world. We have over 30 years of experience in the travel industry; our attention to detail, 2013 top-of-the-line vehicles and professional trained Chauffeurs set us apart from the rest!
by Jarrad Kulick