Sell in the war (price)

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Christmas holidays are approaching and with them the typical shopping. Hopefully this year economically very hard superstores as small establishments put entire hog this month to improve one years complicated. Many businesses moving some of the famous January sales for December and will make many discounts.

The discount is a powerful selling tool. Studies show that the zone of pleasure and reward in the brain are activated when we hear the words free and discount. That is why the discount is a great attention getter and to make the purchase is necessary to capture the attention of potential customers. The discount gets you see a profit in the purchase, if it is considered fair (remember the previous article) there is a high probability of closing the sale.

The problem comes when the market is a genuine war of prices and discounts. In the time that the consumer perceives that other stores offer discounts on products start buying them rationally. They will want to compare the price and the discount y. .. the discount will have lost its power.

That's why in times in which, presumably, all businesses that sell the same products will discount, we will use other tools to sell. In this way the client can come interested in the comparison and close the sale with us. It is impossible to be always buying the best price. It is also impossible to be always the one who sells the best price. If you are sure you have the best price offer only discount. But if someone might offer better price or greater discount, then focus the effort on the discount will not sell as planned and that we do so with a margin of less than desired (insufficient units sold).

To avoid the situation described in the previous paragraph and also offer something different, we can combine the discount with active selling and also offer another second product. I am not referring to the 2x1, I say to offer a second complementary product at a good price or symbolic as 1 €. For example, many times when we buy a detergent softener give us (or we can buy for 1 €).

The primitive brain (responsible for impulse buying) just thinks of himself and is very receptive to everything related to your advantage. In this case the customer will receive a double advantage, on one hand the product off the first and the second product on the other free (or cheap). This combined with an active sales to bring customers the dual advantage (discount + second product) will be an option in the war of discounts and will also provide a competitive advantage. The key will select either the complementary product. It must be an incentive not to lose their effect and then be a burden.