Not about sales but about shopping



Free gift enticements

Buying jewelry is such a big investment process that it isn’t something you can do over and over again no matter how much you enjoy it. So, jewelry stores have to resort to various tactics to get you to return. This was what crossed my mind when my colleague showed me a brochure he had received from a local jewelry store.

This brochure announced a special “open day” where prices of their jewelry including diamonds and other precious gemstones would be slashed. The part that was meant to entice was the big bold letters announcing that if you were among the first 50 people who attended and brought the brochure along, you would be entitled to receive a pearl necklace absolutely free! An enlarged picture of a lustrous string of pearls was included.

My colleague told me he had been receiving many of these such invitations with freebies after purchasing a set of diamond earrings once for his wife. When he received the first brochure, he had been excited at the prospect of receiving a free pearl pendant but when he got to the store, he was told that he was too late and stocks were finished. This was just slightly after the store opened! However, since he was already there, he was invited to look at the other things on sale.

Thereafter, all such brochures were consigned to the bin. My point to it all is that when we shop, we are invited to sign up for memberships or to leave our addresses and telephone numbers for record purposes. Our addresses and numbers may then be used to send us promotional material which in many cases are genuine but in the odd few cases are merely instruments to entice you to visit the store again.

This is more so with jewelry stores because the incidence of repeat buyers from the general public is not very high. Jewelry, especially diamond jewelry, are expensive items and are reserved for special occassions or anniversaries. Jewelry stores know this so these gimmicks are used to try to bring you back to their store where you may end up purchasing something, if not expensive, maybe something cheaper but either way, they make a sale.

I have nothing against jewelry stores in general. This is just an example because this is what struck me when I saw the discarded brochure. I was tempted to visit to pick up a free pearl necklace too but now I’m not so sure if I want to go all the way there to be told that I’d missed the chance by being customer #51.

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September 7, 2007 | Filed Under Shopping hazards 

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