Product Discounting

Discounting your product or service can be an excellent strategy to find new customers to try your company so you can then up sell additional services at a later date.

Here is a trick that the larger UK retailers currently use that you too can use in your marketing - if you are planning a promotion, need to get rid of some old stock or simply want to improve sales.

3 for the price of 2 offers

You see these offers in so many shops these days and they always sound really tempting as you appear to get so much for your money.

In many cases it will be a new product the company wants you to try so you may stick to the product in the future.

It might simply be a way of reducing stock so there is a strategy to sell volume. In all cases it's a planned promotion via retailers to sell more - at a profit.

Why not just a third off ?

This is the canny part of the marketing people who originally developed the "3 for 2" offer.

Effectively, if you offer a third off or 3 for the price of 2, the final price is the same (if you buy 3).

But if you have a "3 for 2" offer then the consumer has to buy three items so the retailer receives the sales for the 3 items. If you just had "a third off" many people would simply buy one item discounted and you would not get the additional sales at that point of purchase decision (and neither will you get that sale in the future).

And that's the reason you see more "3 for 2" promotions than simple "a third off" - because they sell more because you have to buy three.

If you have any questions or comments then please visit our Business Forum

All the best for a successful business,

Peter Hale

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