Pindiites fall for tricky marketing tactics

Pindiites get cheated into paying more than they normally would by the lure of discounts at every city market and shopping mall. Newspapers, TV channels and radio ads, E-mail promotions, fliers, mobile phone messages advertise these sham deals by sellers. They make shopaholics rush off their feet by the idea of saving money.

“It’s hard to resist a good sale. See something that’s 40 or 50 per cent off and you may want to grab it before the price goes back to normal. Retailers know that. Discounts make holes in your pockets yet they don’t prevent you from buying,” says Sibte Hussain, a college lecturer.

“Big discount off overall purchase seems a great deal and in many cases it is. However, I often take this discount and use it as an incentive to buy more than I normally would. God knows why this thought crosses my mind. Such is the deceptive attraction of discounts,” says Abbas Ali from Satellite Town.

“Buy two and get one free” is the marketing tool for those who don’t really need to buy two items. They end up not saving money and in most cases, over-spending because of the deceptive idea of saving,” says Salamat Hussain, a Saddar area resident.

Safeer Hasan, an NGO worker, says, “I have bought extra foodstuff on many occasions which gets wasted; because of the misleading marketing tactics of the seller.”

“Once I had a 30 per cent discount on a shoe item that I wanted and it came to Rs.999.99. Well, the same item I bought from another shop at the price of Rs.599.99. Now I am pretty sure with 30 per cent off that purchase does not beat the Rs.599.99 purchase,” says Rafaqat Ali, a university student.

“Buying something at a seemingly good cost may set up in the buyer’s mind a discount deception. Nevertheless, one can’t escape from the storm of discounts salespersons want you to hear. Check-in now to receive a free precious gift! Order a meal and get a free drink! It’s an old marketing spin under a new advertising ploy,” says Vilayat Hussain, a teacher by profession.

“Are we really saving money if we are purchasing a product on discount? That isn’t true as the discount is already included in the price,” says Saman Alvi, an IT firm manager.

“Nearly every store had at least one item on sale all of the time. These stores, in order to compete with their competitors, are just holding these fake sales,” says Shabbir Hussain Naqvi, a lawyer.

“Don’t buy something just because it’s on sale. Don’t buy something because oh it says it’s 60 percent off. Instead, we should compare prices store to store,” says Najaf Ali, a customer.