Son_of_Perdition
Senior Member
I enjoy the holidays, in my youth with 4 other siblings vying for gifts from our parents tight fisted income was not a warm remembrance of mine. My parents were working class and money seemed to always be tight. My mother had her favorites and my father would want to appease her to keep peace in the family. So not being one of the favorites made me feel like an urchin out of a Charles Dicken's novel.
As time went on and I married, had children of my own I allowed my wife to set the stage for our holidays. She is a warm giving person and her being from a family of 12 made her more aware of the joys and heartache of the holidays. She started in Jan each year planning for our next Xmas season. Our house was always decorated warmly with fresh cut trees, holiday cooking and included music in the background. We had 3 children and each had a choice of 3 items they wanted. Our funds were limited but she always tried her best to get their final choices.
As they aged the choices became more expensive, but she somehow managed. Each child was raised the same but each had their own personalities, the oldest, my son was indifferent to his gifts & he wanted to shop the 'clearance' racks. My 2nd, a daughter is a giving person and still is, she wanted to spend more on her gifts than we allotted. The 3rd, another daughter was more materialistic and would reluctantly get a random gift for her siblings and then want to buy for herself. The 3rd still keeps score.
I always took into account what was expected of me and I tried to provide the expected funds to supplement my wife's minimum wage jobs. We had and still have happy holidays that can only be attributed to my wife's tenacity. Our family congregates at our house on Xmas eve and spends Xmas day at our house, their children bring their favorite gift to play with and being OCD I have to temper my misgivings and allow the clutter to gather around my chair. Our oldest granddaughter now married with children of her own was remembering our past celebrations, about the joy she remembered going to Grandma's and Grandpa's.
I found another 'list' of the tricks that entice you at the holidays. I read through it and realized that these are not too much unlike the marketing tricks that I encountered when I was in my heyday of the pseudo 'professional gambler' days. No clocks, bright lights, bells and whistles, very alluring cocktail waitresses carrying 'free' drinks, cheap food, cheap rooms and colorful surrounding all to make me spend more time in the casino and played heavily upon my normal desires, FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Here is the edited list of marketing tricks retailers use at holiday time.
1. They Relax You With Carefully Chosen Music
Research reported by the American Psychological Association and European Journal of Scientific Research shows that when you go into a store with relaxing music, you are much more likely to spend more time in the store. Spending more time in a store can lead to spending more money before you leave.
2. They Use Scents to Get You to Spend More Money
Just as retailers use music to play to your sense of hearing during the holiday season, they also use holiday-specific scents to try to increase your will to spend money. Retailers often scent their stores during the holidays with seasonal fragrances such as gingerbread and pine. Similar to Christmas music, this tactic invokes a sense of warmness and generosity, all leading to larger purchases. The more pleasant a shopping experience is, the more likely you'll walk out the door with less money in your hand.
3. They Take Advantage of Nostalgia
Retailers frequently sell items that appeal to people's feelings of nostalgia, such as a '50s-style dining set, an old-school video game system or a retro turntable. Gifts that trigger a memory or inspire a young person to try something from the past can offer richness that general gifts like candles cannot.
4. They Use Bulk Pricing
You might be accustomed to seeing "buy two for the price of one" deals, but you can expect even more of them -- and larger bulk offers -- during the holidays. Grocery stores, in particular, use this tactic frequently, such as by offering 10 items for $10, making you think you have to buy 10 to get the $1-an-item deal. But, usually, you can get the deal price regardless of how many items you buy. Adding the sentence "maximum 8 cans per customer" to the price tag of soup cans caused sales to increase by giving the illusion of a great discount even if none was offered.
5. They Use the Number 9
While shoppers are accustomed to the majority of retail items going for prices such as $39.99 instead of $40, not many shoppers stop to think about why merchandise is priced this way. Not using round numbers is another trick intended to make you spend more.
6. They Play Tricks on Your Eyes
Stores often put items with the best price margins for them right at eye level for you so that you see them easily. Items that are better buys for the customer -- and therefore not as profitable for the retailer -- are more likely to be found at the bottom or top of an aisle.
7. They Mark Up Prices Before the Holidays
[High-low pricing] is when retailers have relatively high everyday prices, then release 'holiday' coupons to make you think you're getting an amazing discount via the coupon. In reality, retailers that use high-low pricing know they'll sell minimal items at full retail, and if they do, it's a bonus.
8. They Convince You to Buy Gift Sets
Gift sets seem like a great deal because the value of all items priced together is typically lower than if you were to buy them separately. The stated value of the set, however, is the full retail of all items in it, so it can sometimes be cheaper to buy the items separately if they are on sale. Buying gift sets also can lead to overspending.
9. They Skew Perception With New Luxury Items
The holiday season is a popular time for some retailers to mix luxury items into their product assortment so that prices on their regular items look much more reasonable by comparison, Sanders said.
10. They Make Finding Clearance Items Hard
Clearance racks or shelves are often located all the way in the back of a store or hidden as much as possible because retailers want you to have to walk through the entire store to get to them, according to Business Insider. By walking through this layout, you're more likely to see higher priced items and potentially buy them. Once you do find the clearance section, it's purposefully in a state of disarray. True bargain shoppers don't mind sifting through the mess to find the great deals, but the average shopper is more likely to be turned off by the obstacle and instead buy non-clearance items, letting the retailers win.
As time went on and I married, had children of my own I allowed my wife to set the stage for our holidays. She is a warm giving person and her being from a family of 12 made her more aware of the joys and heartache of the holidays. She started in Jan each year planning for our next Xmas season. Our house was always decorated warmly with fresh cut trees, holiday cooking and included music in the background. We had 3 children and each had a choice of 3 items they wanted. Our funds were limited but she always tried her best to get their final choices.
As they aged the choices became more expensive, but she somehow managed. Each child was raised the same but each had their own personalities, the oldest, my son was indifferent to his gifts & he wanted to shop the 'clearance' racks. My 2nd, a daughter is a giving person and still is, she wanted to spend more on her gifts than we allotted. The 3rd, another daughter was more materialistic and would reluctantly get a random gift for her siblings and then want to buy for herself. The 3rd still keeps score.
I always took into account what was expected of me and I tried to provide the expected funds to supplement my wife's minimum wage jobs. We had and still have happy holidays that can only be attributed to my wife's tenacity. Our family congregates at our house on Xmas eve and spends Xmas day at our house, their children bring their favorite gift to play with and being OCD I have to temper my misgivings and allow the clutter to gather around my chair. Our oldest granddaughter now married with children of her own was remembering our past celebrations, about the joy she remembered going to Grandma's and Grandpa's.
I found another 'list' of the tricks that entice you at the holidays. I read through it and realized that these are not too much unlike the marketing tricks that I encountered when I was in my heyday of the pseudo 'professional gambler' days. No clocks, bright lights, bells and whistles, very alluring cocktail waitresses carrying 'free' drinks, cheap food, cheap rooms and colorful surrounding all to make me spend more time in the casino and played heavily upon my normal desires, FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Here is the edited list of marketing tricks retailers use at holiday time.
1. They Relax You With Carefully Chosen Music
Research reported by the American Psychological Association and European Journal of Scientific Research shows that when you go into a store with relaxing music, you are much more likely to spend more time in the store. Spending more time in a store can lead to spending more money before you leave.
2. They Use Scents to Get You to Spend More Money
Just as retailers use music to play to your sense of hearing during the holiday season, they also use holiday-specific scents to try to increase your will to spend money. Retailers often scent their stores during the holidays with seasonal fragrances such as gingerbread and pine. Similar to Christmas music, this tactic invokes a sense of warmness and generosity, all leading to larger purchases. The more pleasant a shopping experience is, the more likely you'll walk out the door with less money in your hand.
3. They Take Advantage of Nostalgia
Retailers frequently sell items that appeal to people's feelings of nostalgia, such as a '50s-style dining set, an old-school video game system or a retro turntable. Gifts that trigger a memory or inspire a young person to try something from the past can offer richness that general gifts like candles cannot.
4. They Use Bulk Pricing
You might be accustomed to seeing "buy two for the price of one" deals, but you can expect even more of them -- and larger bulk offers -- during the holidays. Grocery stores, in particular, use this tactic frequently, such as by offering 10 items for $10, making you think you have to buy 10 to get the $1-an-item deal. But, usually, you can get the deal price regardless of how many items you buy. Adding the sentence "maximum 8 cans per customer" to the price tag of soup cans caused sales to increase by giving the illusion of a great discount even if none was offered.
5. They Use the Number 9
While shoppers are accustomed to the majority of retail items going for prices such as $39.99 instead of $40, not many shoppers stop to think about why merchandise is priced this way. Not using round numbers is another trick intended to make you spend more.
6. They Play Tricks on Your Eyes
Stores often put items with the best price margins for them right at eye level for you so that you see them easily. Items that are better buys for the customer -- and therefore not as profitable for the retailer -- are more likely to be found at the bottom or top of an aisle.
7. They Mark Up Prices Before the Holidays
[High-low pricing] is when retailers have relatively high everyday prices, then release 'holiday' coupons to make you think you're getting an amazing discount via the coupon. In reality, retailers that use high-low pricing know they'll sell minimal items at full retail, and if they do, it's a bonus.
8. They Convince You to Buy Gift Sets
Gift sets seem like a great deal because the value of all items priced together is typically lower than if you were to buy them separately. The stated value of the set, however, is the full retail of all items in it, so it can sometimes be cheaper to buy the items separately if they are on sale. Buying gift sets also can lead to overspending.
9. They Skew Perception With New Luxury Items
The holiday season is a popular time for some retailers to mix luxury items into their product assortment so that prices on their regular items look much more reasonable by comparison, Sanders said.
10. They Make Finding Clearance Items Hard
Clearance racks or shelves are often located all the way in the back of a store or hidden as much as possible because retailers want you to have to walk through the entire store to get to them, according to Business Insider. By walking through this layout, you're more likely to see higher priced items and potentially buy them. Once you do find the clearance section, it's purposefully in a state of disarray. True bargain shoppers don't mind sifting through the mess to find the great deals, but the average shopper is more likely to be turned off by the obstacle and instead buy non-clearance items, letting the retailers win.
