Have you scored any good deals yet during your holiday shopping this year? Or have you been tempted by deals that turned out not to be much of a good deal at all?
Right on the heels of a survey that found shoppers are increasingly skeptical about “fake” discounts, comes another new survey that finds shoppers consider many holiday deals to be misleading, confusing, untrustworthy, dishonest, or all of the above.
RELEX Solutions found “a widening disconnect between the deals retailers run and the deals shoppers trust,” concluding that “these deals meant to build loyalty are backfiring.”
84% of the shoppers it surveyed said promotions feel misleading or unclear. One of their top gripes is when a price is billed as a “sale” price when the original price isn’t even shown. Others feel misled when the items they want aren’t actually available at the promoted price. And still others cite unclear terms that make deals more confusing than compelling.
As a result, less than a third of shoppers are confident that the promotions they see offer any real savings at all.
Younger shoppers, aged 18-24, are most likely to be influenced by good deals, and most likely to be turned off by bad ones. Nearly two-thirds of them say they often catch promotions that aren’t actually cheaper than what they can get for regular price.
And in many cases, shoppers aren’t letting sellers get away with it. Among those who say they’ve lost trust in a retailer’s promotions, more than a quarter have taken action, by either avoiding that retailer’s promotions altogether, shopping there less often, or no longer shopping there at all.
And those younger shoppers have far less tolerance for deals that aren’t really deals. Half say they will give up on a retailer immediately if they come across a promotion that seems misleading. For the retailer, that means not only losing a potential sale, but obliterating any chance they might have to earn a young shopper’s lifetime loyalty.
Even actual deals are not always exciting, because shoppers complain they’ve become predictable. At the grocery store, predictable promotions can be a good thing – committed grocery deal-seekers know that sales often come in regular cycles. Every six to 12 weeks or so, items in just about every grocery category go on sale. So if you time your purchases just right, you can stock up and ensure you’ll never have to pay full price for items you regularly buy.
That consistent cadence is not as welcome when it comes to holiday shopping. Nearly two-thirds of holiday shoppers tell RELEX that they’ve seen sellers repeat the same deals over and over. While this can turn out well for shoppers who know to wait for a deal they know is coming, it’s not as good for retailers whose customers are onto their promotional playbook. And even worse for retailers whose customers only buy items on sale, are customers who don’t buy anything – a quarter of shoppers say they end up ignoring repetitive deals altogether.
So sellers this season might want to make sure their deals are – well, the real deal. Just last month, a survey from Lightspeed Commerce found that 84% of shoppers believe retailers raise their prices just ahead of big sales events, in order to offer “fake” discounts by lowering their prices right back to where they were before. “In a tight economy, transparency is the strongest sales strategy retailers have,” Lightspeed advised. Being honest, building confidence and earning shoppers’ trust is what will “bring customers back long after the holidays.”
When asked what sellers can do to earn their trust, shoppers in RELEX’s survey say they need to offer fairer pricing, clear discounts, advertised deals that are actually available, and simpler offers overall.
“Promotion success won’t come from deeper discounts, but from deals shoppers believe are real,” RELEX Director of Presales Pricing and Promotions Thom Iddon-Escalante said in a statement. Otherwise, “the promotion becomes a trust-breaking moment instead of a sales driver. Retailers can’t afford that kind of disconnect.”
During this busiest shopping period of the year, coming as it does in a time of economic uncertainty, many shoppers can’t afford to buy holiday gifts at full price. But sellers that think they can’t afford to offer straightforward deals, may ultimately find that they can’t afford not to.
Image source: Phillip Pessar 
