Posts Tagged ‘shopping’
BOGOFs and Bargains
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
Ever heard the term bogof and wondered what it meant? Well it’s a term meaning Buy One, Get One Free. It’s a concept that has spread across the shops in recent years to try and tempt us to buy one brand over another, and seduce us away from our normal brand.
Is it a good idea? Well… this is something that varies quite a lot. If it’s an item that you were going to buy anyway, and you can store the extra one then it’s most definitely worth going for. After all you’re getting something for nothing. If it’s not something you normally buy then you have to stop and ask yourself a few questions – Do I really need this? Am I buying it to replace something else and if so does it work out cheaper this way? Can I store the spare one for long enough to stop it going off? If you don’t need the item and are just being seduced by the label telling you that you’re getting something extra for free, then you’re not going to save money and it’s not a bargain. If you are buying it to replace something else – exchanging one type of beef burger for another for example – then does it work out cheaper this way?
Look at the weight on each box as well as the price and number of items in the box like this:
Brand A Burgers – 8 in a box and the total weight is 800g. The price is £1.00
Brand B Burgers – 8 in a box and the total weight is 600g. The price is £1.50
Brand B are on bogof, Brand A are not.
Which is really cheaper?
What you are actually paying for brand B is £1.50 for 1200g of burgers which is equal to 12.5p per 100g (the calculation is 1.50 ÷ 12). Brand A which isn’t on bogof works out to 12.5p per 100g as well (the calculation is 1.00 ÷ 8), so really you are not getting anything extra for your money by buying the bogof item!
As you can see from this, it’s important to do the calculations to check because sometimes it’s actually a false economy to buy the item that’s on bogof.
Something else you can do if you don’t think you will use all the extra before the item goes off, or you don’t really have the space to store it, is to shop with a friend. By doing this, you end up each just with one item, but you pay half price for it.
Tags: bargains, BOGOF, discounts, Savings, shopping
Posted in General, Savings | Comments Off
How Coupons Can Save You Money
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
Vouchers & coupons may not seem like the sort of thing that can make a huge difference in your life, but actually if you use them right they can make more difference than you might imagine.
Most people reading this will do shopping every week, and will have to buy things like clothes, replace things for the house etc. and of course all these things cost. Imagine if you will that over the course of a month you’ve got to buy all your food shopping, a new washing machine because yours has broken & a new school dress & shoes for your child. Without shopping around and using coupons this will cost you a fair amount of money. However, if you look carefully at where you buy each item, and check out what coupons are available for use on the products you need, then you could find you could save yourself quite a sum.
Shoes bought in one shop might cost you £25 but in another they’re £30. At first glance the obvious place to buy them is the first shop because they’re £5 cheaper there. However, imagine that you’ve got a 20% off coupon for use in the second shop and things change slightly. Instead of paying £30, you’d pay £30-20% which is £24 making the second shop actually work out cheaper. Saving = £1 even though you bought the more expensive item!
The school dress for your daughter might be £15 in the shop you normally buy them from, but it’s worth looking in places you wouldn’t normally think of as clothes shops – supermarkets for example often have kids clothes at remarkably reasonable prices especially school clothes. Always join any clubs that supermarkets offer unless you really object to them as they often send out coupons that you can use in their store too. Imagine that by doing this you have brought the cost of that school dress down to a little under £10. Oh and of course you were going there anyway to do your shopping so you’ve just saved yourself a bit of petrol too! Saving = £6.
The washing machine you’ve found that you like can be bought in Dixons, and even if it’s not the best price you can find, they price match most of the big stores. So rather than buying it in store, go online and buy it from their website – the delivery will be free, and you can use the £10 off code that BView has available in the voucher section. Saving = £10 and a trip to the store!
Obviously you won’t always find a voucher to help, and when you do sometimes the savings will be big, and sometimes small, but even if you only averaged saving £16 a month that would still be an extra £192 you’d have towards other things over the course of a year.
Tags: coupons, discounts, save money, shopping
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Branded or Unbranded?
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
Most of us go shopping each week and shove the same things in our basket each time with little variation, but what if we stop and think about what we’re buying in terms of the brand name on it. Is it reeeeally worth paying more for an item just because it has a popular name written on it, or says that it’s extra special?
Most supermarkets have at least three different levels of their own brand products, as well as selling items made by the big brand names like birdseye, nestle, etc. So unless all you’re buying is the cheapest value items there’s usually an alternative that’s cheaper. Sometimes we can try these things and find them perfectly acceptable, and other times we’ll think hmm maybe not, and what works for me won’t necessarily work for you, so it’s no good me telling you which items I like that are cheap. However, most people don’t notice the difference on some items as they’re not generally used alone. By this I mean things like Vinegar where you don’t often use it on it’s own, so any difference in flavour is less noticeable.
Will the food taste as nice? Will the shower gel last as long? The only way really to find this out is to try the item and test it for yourself. For me personally, some things I’ve tried with trepidation and been very pleasantly surprised, others I think no way will I notice the difference, and yet when I try it, I do notice a difference and decide not to buy the cheaper version again.
One way to find out is to try one lower priced lower branded item each week. Some you may stick to, some not, but I bet you’ll find a few that you don’t mind. Another thing you can do is look online at forums, and discuss it with others who are thinking along similar lines. Sometimes it’s easier to talk to a total stranger this way than to our friends after all if you’re just user123 then no one knows YOU so it’s not so embarrassing.
Keep a note of what you think, maybe keep a few shopping lists or receipts too so you can look back after 3 months and see how much you’re saving on average by changing down. The saving can be quite surprising. A Branded pack of sausages can cost you around £2, but some supermarkets have sausages that taste almost as good for less than half that value.
Tags: bargains, brands, Savings, shop smart, shopping
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The consumer trap
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
Everyone likes the idea of something for nothing, however, where loyalty cards are concerned, the phrase ‘It’s too good to be true’ may hit the nail on the head.
Loyalty cards came into common use in the mid 1990’s, a stroke of marketing genius which saw supermarket giants market shares entirely unbalanced and a terrifying customer retention. This galvanised the opposing chains into action and in just two years loyalty cards were rife.
Tesco and Sainsbury battled head to head, Safeway briefly stepped in but retreated to no mans land, later being aquired by Wm Morrisons and Boots stomped all over the concept. Each promising their own advantages, each touting their perks as discounts and bonuses for loyalty and for each promise we sold our souls, arming them with ways to make us spend more money, allowing them lead us into temptation with extra points and lower prices.
Now the face of shopping may have changed forever. Each of us has given the much needed market research data about our habits, if we live alone or are on a diet if we eat meat or live on convenience foods. In fact, they’ll know what you’ve been up to if you buy a pregnancy test and what the result was if you start buying nappies. Then they’ll target you, with coupons and extra points vouchers, tempting you to buy more expensive brands than you usually might, or to wean your baby on a more expensive food, which if your child likes, you’ll buy more often and they’ll reap the reward on the profit. Genius!
Our shopping habits are hoarded on computers and sometimes sold to others for greater market power and we agree to that.
Generally the power lies very much with the shop. The card holder is targeted and tormented, given incentives and persuasions to buy what the store needs to shift or to move the customer up a brand level.
It’s rare that these cards will offer enough to the user to warrant the sale of information but there just a few which make it worthwhile if you don’t mind your preferred toilet paper type being bandied around.
Tesco have a catalogue of offers to choose from, other than simply cashing the coupons instore against your groceries. In the catalogue, your coupons are worth 4x as much, so £5 of coupons gives you £20 of treats in the catalogue.
I thought I had managed well to get breakdown cover for two people on two vehicles using my coupons, until I read on MoneySavingExpert.com about those who had new cars as a result of super clever offers shopping. Changing their eating habits to suit whatever maximised their points and taking the resulting coupons to the car chain involved, driving away with brand new vehicles and with less than two years grocery shopping. Every penny recouped in a car.
Tesco hold a significant 32% market share (compared to 16% each for Sainsburys and Asda), the exchange for the brand new cars which slipped off the forecourts via Clubcard vouchers, until the supplier Motorpoint, ceased their cooperative with Tesco in 2008.
Still, with record profits in the region of 2.8 billion this time last year and the strongest loyalty card legacy, I doubt it made much of a dent.
Boots have a whole legion of shoppers who sniff out the bargains and how best to spend on each item, maximising coupon returns and discounts. A recent example was the 97p sachet of Pantene conditioner, which yielded a 100 point return on the Boots Advantage card, a profit of 3p. By purchasing ten Pantene sachets, I could achieve a return of 1,000 Boots points to make my originally intended purchase, technically getting the sachets free of charge and a 30p profit. In a further manoeuvre of super savvy shopping, if those purchases were broken into groups of £5 or slightly more, a coupon was given out which entitled the bearer to £5.00 off Boots own No.7 products.
If you had originally intended to buy a pack of No.7 face wipes (5.50) and a bottle of No.7 cellulite body lotion(£5.00) you would ultimately transfer £9.70 into 1,000 points on your card, spend a further 50p and leave with £20.50 of products.
The loyalty card could prove to be more useful than it was intended with such detailed knowledge of offers and loopholes, turning the previously unrewarding cards back into the two way street we were originally led to believe they were.
Tags: discount, find a deal, loyalty card, money saving, shopping, special offers
Posted in Business, Findings, General | Comments Off
An introduction to online discount vouchers
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
The recession is really starting to bite: high street stores with never ending sales, reports of shoppers “downshifting” in their weekly shopping and consumers becoming more conscious of how they spend their hard earned cash. It’s getting harder for businesses not just to attract new customers but to keep the ones they already have. When multi-millionaire Wayne Rooney is looking for 50% off his night out it’s clear that thrifty, shrewd spending is becoming the norm and it’s going to take more than a few extra reward points to persuade people to part with their money.
Some retailers may look upon discount vouchers and special offers as a sign of “bargain” outlets, increasingly though it is becoming a more accepted way of attracting business. The web is playing an important role in this self promotion as it levels the playing field and allows smaller, independent businesses to compete equally with the nationwide chains. An added benefit with online vouchers is how easily they can be shared between one satisfied customer and their network of friends, family and colleagues. Whether it’s via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter or in conversation creating a voucher in a way that encourages it to be shared can only have a positive affect on your businesses online reputation.
What can your business do to attract new custom?
Increasingly savvy consumers are looking online to find the best deals and biggest savings. BView’s new discount voucher search engine brings this money saving mentality into the local area by helping businesses to publicise their latest money off deals, sales and special offers directly to potential consumers – be it locally or nationally.
As a business looking to test the waters of online promotions it’s important to know that not all offers are created equal. There are a number of different types of promotion you can offer depending on your business goals. Choosing the right type of promotion for your customers is vital for it to work for you.
Trying to attract new customers? “10% off your first order!”
Rewarding customer loyalty? “15% off of your renewal!”
Rewarding customers for spending more? “£5 off a £50 spend!”
Need an extra edge? “Free delivery!”
Seasonal lines coming to an end? “Buy one get one free!”
Once you’ve decided on the offer that’s best for you and your customers it’s important to think about any restrictions or limitations you need to place on the offer. When will the voucher expire? Can a customer use it more than once? Does it exclude certain items? While it’s never a good thing to be too restrictive, it’s critical to make the terms of the offer clear up front as you don’t want your potential customers to feel like they’ve been cheated out of a deal.
The BView blog will be monitoring what offers work in different sectors, what key trends are occurring and speculating on what the future holds in the online voucher area and the local voucher area.
Tags: credit crunch, money saving, recession, shopping, voucher
Posted in Announcements, Business, Findings | 1 Comment »
Festive discounts: Threshers, M&S, Argos and Laura Ashley
Thursday, November 20th, 2008
Start stocking up for Christmas! Threshers are offering 40% off all wine and champagne until the 2nd December 2008. Find your closest Threshers here and click on ‘Get Voucher’.
Other discounts soon to expire include:
Save up to an extra £20 off toys if you order online by the 25th November 2008. Eligible spend must be on toys – excludes video games and consoles. Only available for online home delivery orders. Click here for the voucher code.
Up to 10% off Marks & Spencers kidswear
Lots of treats from M&S! 10% off kidswear, enter the voucher code: KIDSCAT3 Valid until the 25th November 2008.
They also have a 3 for 2 Christmas shop online and are giving 20% off orders on womenswear, menswear, lingerie, furniture, homeware and beauty! Currently the offer is only valid on the 20th November 2008.
3 for 2 offers at Laura Ashley
Shop online and benefit from 3 for 2 offers on Christmas gifts! Between the 14th-23rd November 2008, Laura Ashley online is also giving 25% off if you subscribe to the newsletter.
Pass on the offers to your friends and don’t forget to leave some feedback on BView for Threshers, Marks& Spencers, Argos and Laura Ashley.
Tags: 40% off threshers, argos, christmas shopping, discount, kidswear, marks&spencers, menswear, offers, reviews, shopping, threshers, vouchers, womenswear
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Deals to meet your DIY needs this winter
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
Some time ago we shared a voucher link for Gap. Now, our DIY category is decorated by discount deals, perfect if you are planning an autumn revamp to scare away winter blues.
I spent part of my Sunday in Homebase, finding items to add a touch of zen to my environment. Whenever I visit the store I anticipate cringing at my credit card statement the next month. However, this time I was pleased to find prices on plants and home products slashed by half. Across the UK, the Homebase stores have managed to maintain a relatively high average BView score. You can read some of the reviews here or even add your own experience.
If you are purely looking for tools and DIY bits, Screwfix Direct’s offer is definitely worth mentioning. They have achieved an outstanding BView score of 92%. Reviewers have been commenting on their great selection, cheap prices and efficient service.
TyTy Smith
BViewer, TyTy Smith, was so impressed that he wrote ‘think I will be doing all my DIY shopping from here in the future.’
At the moment Screwfix are offering 10% off orders of £50 and free delivery, you can get the voucher code here.
DIYEssentials have not been reviewed yet but they are giving 10% off orders and a free gift. The voucher code can be retrieved here. If you do make a purchase please review it! The Big Bathroom Shop are holding a sale of up to 50% off and the Tap Centre are taking 10% off orders. Others offering discounts include Wickes Building Supplies Ltd , Bathroom Heaven and DIYTools .
Read the reviews, shop around and share your feedback! It’s the only way others know whether it is worth shopping there or not.
If you have any discount codes to share with others, please contact Olu on 0845 680 2001 and he will make sure the site is updated.
Tags: BView, customer service, discounts, DIY, home improvements, homebase, reviews, screwfix direct, shopping, the big bathroom shop, the tap centre, wickes
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