I am always fascinated by the way advertising works. Here are a few advertising phrases that I’ll translate into much less sexy terms:

“Buy one, get one free.” -> 50% off, but you have to buy 2!

“Buy two, get one free.” -> 33% off, but you have to buy 3!

“Buy one, get one half price.” -> 25% off, but you have to buy 2!

“Everything in the store 25% off.” -> Our prices are marked up high enough that we can mark everything down and still make a good profit.

It has to be a tough time to be in retail spaces. Unless you are Apple or a handful of other big names, your storefront window must have a sale sign in it. You must highlight the bargains, the best deals you have.

But these signs work. They draw people in, and people leave happy that they got a great deal. That happiness is important if you want your customers to come back.

But did you really need 2 or 3 of that item? You went for a pair of runners, now you have runners and hikers. You wanted a pair of shorts, but have 3 pairs, and you didn’t save 33%, you saved less than 25% because the 3rd, ‘free’ pair was cheaper than the other two you purchased.

A store wants you to buy 2 or 3 discounted items because that increases the overall profit. But how many of that item do you need? If I’m buying socks, a 3rd pair free is likely useful. But if I’m going to buy runners, and my second pair is half off, and because of this I splurged and got a slightly more expensive first pair… I’ll walk out with 2 pairs, but I will have spent a lot more than I planned to spend, and probably won’t wear one of the pairs very often.

Bargain shopping isn’t always a bargain.