CATCH-ALL HOOKS

Black Friday, (an American import) Cyber Monday, Special Loyalty Event, you name it, someone has thought of a myriad of catch-all retail hooks to bolster up consumer spending.

Online, where a high percentage of shopping is done in the UK, according to retailers with an online presence, there is more than a flurry of business; it sounds like there is enough shopping on one day, on Black Friday, to stabilise the retail accounts  for the year!  This is according to those in the know, like accountants and economists.

Basking Shark-Cetorhinus Maximus

I have yet to be convinced that there are mountains of real bargains sitting waiting for an impatient internet shopping population, who have  waited for the one day in the year when we are told 'it' is all there for the taking. I did my own little pot survey, (not at all scientific) by choosing a couple of things some months ago that I was interested in buying.  No doubt, there are stock clearances, no different from any sale at any other time of year.






Scanning around the comparison sites on the internet for the two things I was following was very dull. The big boys definitely did not play ball. I was offered a similar product once, nominally cheaper and definitely not of interest. The best I could say was, for the exact products some prices, not all, stayed static. With the current political insecurities, this may well change. I would expect all prices to rise.

TARTING UP PICK AND MIX

The home insurance renewal offer has gone up in price, (considerably) from last year  "in line with the cost of living and inflation".  Uhm, did I read that correctly! As I recall, we had a miniscule amount of time when we were sitting at deflation, other than that, we are constantly being told that the cost of living has gone down, the global economy is not so buoyant either and that the Bank Of England base rate has remained at a steady all time low over about three or four years.  

I phoned three insurance representatives who insisted on babbling through verbal pro-formas, in the nicest possible way, expecting me to absorb the data they have visible and I do not. Links to policy summaries and policy wording would balance up the odds.

Knowledge Is Power

The best deals for utilities and insurances are to be had as new customers. Inertia is expensive. Loyalty has become a delightfully old fashioned concept.  I'm sure this must have led to the development of a nation of economic tarts. This week I have taken two major 'tart' decisions and now, I have spent hours making home insurance comparisons online. Best prices mostly reflect base line insurances. Watch the prices jump and the exclusions pop up as you add extras.  

The comparisons show that most companies are charging the same level of compulsory excesses for major and structural risk, in addition to any voluntary excess. The more excess you volunteer to pay, the more the premium reduces. Variations arise in the quality of 'extras' and exclusion clauses. This is where the customer would benefit from reading what's on offer. It looks like a couple more phone calls have to be made. I am beginning to to feel inertia setting in.  It's not easy being an economic pick-and-mix tart.

BIG SKIN

I have to admit it can be enormous fun overhearing conversations.  Believe me though, I do not make a point of ear-wigging, but, as we all know, there are times when it is just impossible not to hear.

I was in a local pharmacy. There were good displays of decorative nick-knacks, cosmetics stands, perfumery, hair products and all the sundry first-aid items you would expect. Near the service counter there were two or three baskets with reduced stock, (close to date) just right for pocket-money birthday gift buying for granny. Mum was doing grown-up shopping while her two youngsters were making their selections.  After lots of exploration and excited chatter they showed mum their choices.

G-l-y-c-e-r-i-n-e, and .... what's that mum?

 She peered at the label and read the rest of it.

What does it do?


It hydrates the skin, said mum.  

Oh..... ? 

It will make granny's skin big, mum said.

        Just like mumps!

YOU KNOW WHAT CUSTOMERS ARE LIKE

 The supermarket employs a physically disabled man to look after the trolleys/carts.  He takes them from the various parking places, and retrieves those trolleys that have been lazily left by users anywhere they fancy, usually in places that are a nuisance to other shoppers. We always greet each other when Larry is in the car park, or in the store.  

Larry was getting ready to move a crocodile of trolleys as fork lightening appeared, followed by rolling thunder claps that were a few seconds apart.  I was seriously worried that Larry might be taking a risk handling all that metal as he guided a long line of trolleys to their parking lot by the store entrance. I suggested to him  that he waited a bit to see if there was a safe period to move them, and I explained why....."I've got to move them"... he said "You know what customers are like. "  ...."Forget that," I said..... "Your safety come first."  I was glad to see him remove the strap he uses to keep all the trolleys together when he moves them out; he and the trolleys were going nowhere.  I guess no senior manager in the store would think about this  electrically charged weather in conjunction with  risk management.

 The  sudden fierce storms, lightening and torrential rain took us all by surprise, I sheltered in the doorway of the store with a lot of other people with the same idea, to keep dry and wait for  it all to abate. The people around me were dressed much as I was, in lightweight summer clothes.  The difference was, they had vehicles in the car park and I did not.  Frankly, I did not fancy walking home in that stormy weather and  torrential downpour.   The ubiquitous cell phone comes into its own at times like this, especially if you are carrying one, with its batteries fully charged.

I called for help from Hubby, who drove to the store to collect me.

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia

TESCO YO YO PRICING .....MOSTLY UP

I'm not surprised that Tesco's Christmas period and end of year sales figures significantly dropped, if my experience doing business with my local and not so local Tesco stores is anything to go by. All major shopping chains play price games. Customers have become price aware, while at the same time their budgets have become tighter. 

A re-engagement with the customer is needed. There has developed a distinct lack of respect for the food shopping public. The senior management, wherever they are based, do not seem to be of this world and so have taken their eye off the ball. The yo-yo pricing games have been crude and offend our basic intelligence.

Autumn 2011, my Tesco shopping basket was radically effected. For example the dairy items I buy, suddenly were offered at two items for exactly double the price, but, an individual pack of the same thing was more expensive. I did not want to double up on dairy produce shopping in order to get the previous equivalent price paid. The same pricing mechanism was initiated with many other products in store, I would not have doubled up my shopping on them either.

Next, while massively advertising there were to be prices drops throughout the store, my single unit items increased from late Autumn 2011 prices by 25% - 35%. I now buy the same type of dairy products elsewhere, weight for weight, no obvious quality difference, at or close to the prices I paid prior to Tesco's Autumn hikes in 2011. 

The latest Tesco wheeze is to increase the cost of the 'budget ranges' of foods, pricing them at or close to the main range items. The more expensive foods now advertise a price reduction bringing them closer to the new higher prices of the budget foods! Surely shopping habits of customers must tell the retailer something more constructive than how to alienate their customer base.

COUNTER WITCH AND BROOMSTICK MAIL

Spurred on with the Xmas wrapping and posting, a couple of calendars left these shores by surface mail, two days after the last posting date. 

My package for Western Europe was in good time - Halloween- and I requested surface mail for it from the orange headed wigged witch - cum - counter - clerk. After tapping her counter computer box, she informed me the rate was not available. She could not have written or read the enormous hand written last posting dates notices stuck on the counter windows. "Western Europe", I read, "last posting date 22nd November" .

She shook her head, and then there was light..."It's right at the end of the list" she stated

The cost was £5.40p......"Really...so, how much will airmail be?" I asked, incredulously.

A bit more tapping around on the counter box; obviously happy, she had found Western Europe, Counter Witch triumphantly announced.....£4.60p.  It didn't take high level maths calculations to work out that airmail was a whole £1 sterling cheaper!! I refrained from asking if transit by broomstick might be more economic.

I asked her to check the surface mail cost again. Counter-witch's brow furrowed. A moment, and a few taps later....yes, she said, that's right. It doesn't make sense does it.

I opted for airmail, even if the package got to it's destination far too early, reminding counter witch to deduct the cost of the stamp I had already stuck on the package.  She forgot to do it.

Was I paying in cash...if so, the transaction data could be input and some plus and minus keys could be tapped out at the end of the sale. There was a quick explanation on how to do it from the manageress, which got muddled up. Patiently, I waited till counter-witch and I got the all-clear.

COMPARING IS WORTH  IT.

Small apples often better the bigger apple of their type for juiciness and flavour, the Cox apple which we only see for a very short time, being an example of this.  The packs of little apples on the shop shelf - sadly not Cox's - looked like a good alternative to the non-existent Cox.  I would need two bags because of the size of the apples. I checked the price, thought they would be okay,  and then thought again.   I wondered what the total weight of the purchase would be, so, went in search of weighing scales and weighed the pack.

Twenty per cent difference...never!  I studied the pre-wrapped wee apples, about six of them in the bag, that were now sitting on the scales.  I weighed them again, just in case I had misread the dial.  The fruits really were perfectly formed,  they were also very small.  Each bag was a fixed price of £1.35p.

Just below the pre-packed apples, on another shelf, the same apple was sold loose.  These were larger pieces of fruit priced at £1.37p per kilo. The pre-packed bag of small apples weighed 800grms.  The loose apples I could weigh up to the kilo,  and obtain the weight value.

There is so much shopping psychology at play today, which to a large extent relies on people who do not take the time to make comparisons.