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Gifts with Purchase - bonus or evil?

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Most people are familiar with the concept of Gifts with Purchase or commonly known as GWP. You will notice that usually, it is beauty counters or cosmetic companies that use this idea of a GWP to attract customers.

I say that GWPs are actually evil. They are there to encourage you to buy more than you really need which is good for the seller but less so for the customer.

How often have you stopped to buy a night cream that you have run out of only to have the sales assistant tell you that if you top up another RM20 or buy RM300 worth of products or buy another item, you could qualify for a 5 piece gift set? If you are already planning to spend all that money, or planning to buy a few items at a go, then by all means, do so and get your freebies.

However, often you will find that you find yourself thinking that the gifts offered have such a high value that it would be more than worth your money to buy another item just to get that 5 piece gift set worth RM280.

I’d say you are better off keeping your money. These are my reasons:

  • The “gifts” are usually deluxe sized samples of skincare. Unless you use the skincare under that brand, it will just lie forgotten in your drawer.
  • The samples (whatever size they are) are just that - samples. They have no true value so whatever value placed on them e.g. RM280 worth of gifts; is just pro-rata based on the full size value and is not a true indication.
  • They try to entice you with a bag, but the bag is usually a cheap one. Some offer useful bags that can be used as document bags but most free gift bags aren’t useful at all
  • Some cosmetics brands offer a free lipstick. Usually it is in different (usually plastic) packaging because its a free item. Thus again, it is of no real value.
  • Some offer a free full sized eyeshadow or lipstick as a gift. Note that sometimes, the products may have been discontinued and they are just getting rid of extra stock this way.

I found this out the hard way. I used to succumb to GWP promotions all the time but am now much wiser in my purchases. It really isn’t worth spending the extra RM250 to get a GWP “worth RM280″ when all you are really getting is a cheap bag with samples in it. Well, not unless the bag is super cute or useful (e.g. Paul & Joe gave out trolley travel bags) or you get close to full size gifts.

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March 4, 2008 | Filed Under Discussions, Promotions & Offers, Shopping hazards 

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4 Responses to “Gifts with Purchase - bonus or evil?”

  1. Giddy Tiger on March 4th, 2008

    I am becoming so much wiser now…Having a kid really makes one hold on to money more dearly - haha

    Giddy Tiger: I’m sure it does! Kid comes first now.

  2. Anon on March 5th, 2008

    I beg to differ.

    Let me give a scenario, I use Laura Mercier a lot, foundation, loose powder, compact powder, blusher, etc. And as all may know foundation is the one product that finishes fast, second perhaps compact powder and last loose powder. So each time, when LM has those GWP, I’ll sure grab some stuff and perhaps some other another item which is “finishing soon”.

    Plus I get the GWP, yes I agree products that I may not use or have any real value to me .. but here comes the trick, I sell them on Ebay at dirt cheap price (say starting price RM5) and knowing ebay chances are the products may go up to 10 times the starting price. So I use this to compensate my purchase, say foundation RM150, compact power RM150, loose power RM150 = RM450 minus sales of product via Ebay RM100 (say 5 GWP items, each item sold at RM20) , hence my total purchase value was only RM350, still worth it :)

    Anon: Thanks for your input. I agree that if you manage to sell the GWP products, its a great boon for you and big savings too. I used to do the same until Ebay got too tedious. All that said, kudos for your entrepreneurial spirit! :)

  3. Meta on March 6th, 2008

    I don’t really go for GWPs-I prefer a straight out discount! Although here in Australia I’ve noticed that Clinique tends to have GWPs where it includes eg, a voucher for a year long subscription at a heavily discounted price, if you buy AUD60 or more from them! At the moment the heavily reduced magazine subscription is Shop till you drop for AUD24.95 for 1 year. So yes, I got sucked into that one…

    Meta: Wow! Actually that is a much better offer than having GWP samples thrust at you. Besides I’m sure it isn’t hard to hit AUD60 at all right?

  4. Tine on March 13th, 2008

    Great idea of Anon to sell of the GWP items. I’ve seen a LOT of GWP items on Ebay, which I’ve actually also bought before at a low price just so I can test them out instead of buying a full-sized product.

    I normally exchange the useless bag with other products if possible. If not, then I won’t buy the item :p I don’t need yet-another-useless-and-ugly bag anyway ;)

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