An Overdose of Promotions

There is a shop in Bahrain which has had the 'Flat 50% Sale' signboard for well over 2 years. After I returned to Bahrain after a period of 2 years, I was surprised to see the same signboard. I noticed it but my folks said that this sign board has been there for the past 2 years.

In fact, there are many such shops.

1. The whole reason for promotions is to create a  spark, make the cutomer notice, entice him and initiate the sales.

2, Hopefully, after his awareness, he makes that most difficult step and enters your shop.

3. Once he is in, well it's up to you to seal the deal.

But if your shop has a sale sign for two years, no one will ever enter. why?

1. They stop noticing the sale sign. It has become a part of the infrastructure.

2. Customer doesn't believe you and starts to distrust you. He also, more dangerously starts to think you have just marked up the prices and then given a sale which is a 'make the customer a fool' ploy.

Once he starts seeing it as a ploy, it is next to impossible to get him to even enter the shop even if you are giving freebies.

There was a time when everyone eagerly awaited the sale season but now with this over dose of promotions, it has become passe. A customer rearely if ever is enticed into a purchase because of promotion. Now it is either convenience, or low price which factors in a purchase.When you have used a tool to frequently, it does become blunt.

Another irritating thing one notices as a marketer is the 'Upto 50%' deal.

Now the 'Upto 50%' deal is pretty useful bait. Very useful until it pisses off the customer, when he finds out, the discount is only for a very select few materials that cannot be sold to a sensible customer.He will accept it for sometime, until he brands you the shop that never gives discount on the items he wants to purchase.

I understand marketing is a very difficult task, but when you actually drive away the customer, it is just nonsense marketing.


Will post some solutions soon. It's easy to be back seat critic.