The great 'shop assistants: Divulge your sale tactics' Hunt

Not a shop assistant but - in years past, I've noticed that, at least three days before the Zara sale begins, the clothes - which are usually "helpfully" (not for purse!) arranged into outfits/colour - are rearranged by garment type eg shirts, jeans etc.

I have worked in retail, and here are my sales tactics.

Look for ANY disfigurements to the items
If it is clothes, then look for any tears, frays, anything that may need cleaning, scuffs etc. This can usually net you between 20-60% off the items costs within the sale, making it cheaper than it was. Do NOT deliberately make the scuffs and such like yourself, as you may end up paying full price for the item, and/or be banned from store.

Some items come with bulk buy discount.
Some clothes and items have a bulk buy discount, for example, next offer shirts on sale, and ties at a heavily discounted rate if purchased at the same time. Same goes for footlocker, they often throw in free socks when buying shoes if you ask.

If an item is on the website but not on the shelf
Sometimes items can be on a website sale, but not on the shelf in store. If you are making lots a trip to the local shopping centre, buy the sale item online, and have it delivered to store, it is usually free, and the online discounts can be better than in store.

Buy display models
If an item you want is not available (IE sold out), ask to buy the display model. This ends up usually cheaper than the sale item as it has been used for a period of time, and you still get the full warranty with the item. PC World/Curries store clerks tend to say no, but speaking to a supervisor or a manager can net you the item for a largely discounted cost.

I've noticed that my local supermarket scribbles through the barcode on the shelf label when things are being discontinued. Often these things then end up with a 'clearance' tag on the shelf or on the reduced shelves.

I used to work in River Island and we used to start taking up Sale items as much as 5 or 6 months before the sale. Not all the items but some. Others would stay on the shop floor and in light pencil marks such as 015 would mean an item would go down to £15 or 0015 down to £1.50.

As for when the sale was, most staff were not told and often it wasn't revealed until the week before to prevent info being leaked to friends and family who may still shop there but sale weeks were always "diamond" weeks which meant no one could take a holiday during this period without a lot of effort so some may have been able to work it out.

Oh and please, don't ask staff if you can use their discount! Staff have a limited at best discount and to stop it being used without limits (we were limited to discounts on a maximum of £300 worth of stock -that's £300 before the discount was applied, per season and often seasons forgot to be renewed.) Managers would also have to authorise any sale by staff which could only be done outside of shift hours and only used on staff members themselves or close family, if you went against the rules you risked losing your job or a disciplinary at the very least.