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Amazon Admits Prime Day Deals Not Necessarily the Cheapest (bbc.co.uk)
Shoppers taking part in internet giant Amazon's Prime Day are being told that the deals on offer may not be the cheapest available. From a report: Amazon said it has never claimed that Prime Day is necessarily the cheapest time to shop on its site. It comes after consumer group Which? warned customers that apparent bargains are not always as good as they seem. It said some goods can actually be cheaper at other times of the year, and advised shoppers to do their research. The 36 hour sale -- aimed at subscribers to the Prime shopping service -- offers discounts on a range of goods. The deals are time-limited, with shoppers being told that some items are only available while stocks last.
Good news topic for, I don't know, Cosmopolitan magazine? Not a tech site or generally anywhere where there is no lack of common sense among the audience. We've known this as long as there have been "sale events" in retail. The fact that it is an online store does not suddenly make it different and certainly not "news for nerds".
Next thing you will tell us, it is not really worth it to stand outside stores for hours for them to open on Black Friday...
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
Try camelcamelcamel to check the price over the last year and set alerts for the price you want. I have been using it for years.
(note: I am not associated with them in any way, I just find ti a really useful site!)
What? A retailer puts something on sale but they might put it on MORE sale some other time? Unheard of! Nobody in retail EVER does this.
Oh wait, this is normal practice. But "Amazon" - so somehow we need a mob with pitchforks.
I used to do pricing at Best Buy. 9 times out of 10, when something was put on ad, the only difference on the price tag was that it said "As Advertised" above the price, the price itself didn't change one cent.
The phrase 'on sale' doesn't actually mean 'cheaper', just that special attention is being brought to it. Yes, sometimes the special attention is a price reduction, but if you regularly watch prices you see that frequently it just means that they're featuring it in ad material.
I was chatting with a client years ago that was a jeweler (still in business). The subject of sales came up. I asked, so what do you do X% over cost? He said, Heck no! I triple the price then have a 50% off sale and I can't keep the shelves filled.;)
;)
Just my 2 cents
What is "prime" about today?
Its the 16th of July
Nothing prime about 16
Sure 7 is prime, , but that would make for a month long sale.
A box of 10 Oat Bran are $34 on Amazon. That is $3.40 per box which is in line with grocery stores. The same box is $3.68 at Kroger. Why do people lie when you can look it up on the Internet.
I saw something on Twitter where workers in some countries were going on strike for better working conditions, asking consumers to boycott for the week, which I happily did. I use Amazon and appreciate that I can get some stuff there that I can't find for love or money locally, but the conditions their workers have to endure sound like they contravene a lot of labour laws, and boycotting during a mediocre barely-sale is literally the least I can do. I'm trying to find other sources for the things I want (B&H Photo, Best Buy) but for some things, it's literally impossible to get them anywhere else. Even for items that I CAN get other places, the buying experience is so bad for so many sites. It's really remarkable that almost nobody else has created a purchasing experience even half as good. (For example, I'm in the market for a new iPhone stand, and there's a nice $10 aluminum one on Amazon and I haven't seen it anywhere else yet.)
Even without the problem of counterfeit items being mixed in with their stock, tons of things sold on Amazon are much cheaper in local stores or even via web ordering from some of those retailers.
fencepost
just a little off
You can invent your own retail holiday, and people fall for it.
I got to hand it to Amazon, though... this is probably the smartest way I've seen to clear old inventory cluttering up their warehouses since the invention of the "Woot Off" on woot.com before Amazon bought them. Who knows... it might have been the same marketing guy who came up with Prime Day.
Early in my career I worked for an online retailer. The algorithm for any sales was always the same and very simple: raise the RRP so that the price after all the sale discounts matches your usual price. I don't expect it to be any different this time.