Is it me or are the sales rubbish?

Thursdays_child_3

I have been quite pleased with what I got in the sales this year. I did really well in the M&S online sale getting cashmere jumpers and cardigans that had been £99 down to £29/£35, trousers for my husband down to £29 from £49 plus wrapping paper, tags and cards all reduced. I have received dispatch emails and everything is comming I am pleased to say.

As I have bought from Mulberry on line before I get a preview of their sale with an extra 10% off, so I got a bag and 2 purses.

We went into town yesterday where my husband got shirts and a cashmere cardigan from M&S plus a few things from the gift section and a bed set I had wanted for ages but could never get in the size I wanted, all were at least 50% off.

I also got 2 Links of London charms at 50% off and a Swarvoski necklace that was 75% off.

I do save for the sales and know what I want and will not spend it on rubbish.

Anon

Some of the stores are guilty of manipulating pricing, in my opinion, to give the impression of savings that are not really there. As an example, if you look at the online CD/DVD retailers, they are invariably selling at half price RRP - they are now much closer to high street prices and significantly higher than they should be given that their original business model was shipping in from overseas (which they still do) but generally no longer at the overseas much lower price. As another example, before Christmas WH Smith were claiming that Terrys Oranges were on offer at half price - £1.65 (with the full price apparently £3.30 which I have never seen even in the most expensive shops - the RRP is normally around £2.30 but nearly always on offer at 3 for 2, 3 for £4 etc - close to £1.33 each).

As consumers, we have become accustomed to paying higher prices as retailers (in cahoots with the manufacturers) have pushed the RRP prices up, only to discount down to give the impression of savings which aren't really there.

That said, Wilkinsons have genuinely reduced their toys by 50% (as opposed to the half price toys they were selling before Christmas which came in at that price!) so a good time to stock up on birthday presents and starting Christmas shopping for next year!

Anon

cookie456

I did okay in the sales, but I bought things that I probably didn't need to buy...The one item I bought that I needed was a dress for my New Years fancy dress party - but that wasn't in the sale! Doh!

At least it wasn't stressful though! I planned where I was going to shop using https://www.salemole.com and it wasn't busy at all!

I bought mainly clothes - Ted Baker had great discounts on their first sale day and other random brand clothes by going to House of Fraser and doing all the shopping in one place! Annoying that they closed all of the changing rooms at 12 o'clock though!! Has anyone else found this?

ladyfalco

ive seen a gorgeous dress in Wallis so hoping its instock when i go, its to wear to 2 weddings in the summer so im hoping to get it!

fmhm

this was the first time that i've been boxing day sale shopping (i;m always on holiday at xmas time)
we got out about 8am. and were mainly after superdrug bargains.
was fabulous!!! bought loads of baby accessories like cups, bowls, cutlery, teethers and bibs for 10p each. i know that the 10p stuff was finished before i even got to the till so looks like many ppl will be under the impression that the superdrug sale was rubbish. but it wasnt. got a dvd player for a fiver (but was selling at 10pounds in the other superdrug). got an avent steriliser for 2.99 usually around 25 quid!!
bhs was good too - but heard that i was lucky coz a sales assistant got a lil too carried away with the reduction tags!! and they went to change all the labels after i paid.
so i think i did good - besides bhs (few items only) and superdrug (again a small selection), i do agree with the general feeling that the sales weren't as cheap as we all hoped. what wth the whole credit-crunch business we all expected a much better bargain. i was hoping to get some clothes etc but everything was quite expensive!

wotnext

I'm of the opinion that we're being told that there are massive bargains to be had just to get us to go to the shops and spend. There's definately some spin going on, trying to whip the public up in to a money-parting frenzy. To help it along, the shops are duping us in to believing we're getting a bargain, but any savvy moneysavers on here can clearly see they are marking up from their pre-Christmas sales.

The truth is, unfortunately, that the only true bargains to be had are from those shops who are going in to administration and literally giving stuff away at the last minute.

oilit

I agree - I thought the sales were in the whole very disappointing

I wanted a B&W Zeppelin - John lewis was offering 30gbp off for second hand (ie returned units) - er no thanks

I wanted a mac laptop/Imac - again nobody was offering any deals except john lewis - who again were selling returned items for more than a refurb from apple directly...

And as for sat navs, there are no real deals - just the same prices you coudl get before xmas - so they can keep them!

My kids went to M&S though and got two games for half price - with a christmas voucher that I wanted them to spend just in case it became worthless!:j

1carminestocky

cookie456 wrote: »

I did okay in the sales, but I bought things that I probably didn't need to buy...The one item I bought that I needed was a dress for my New Years fancy dress party - but that wasn't in the sale! Doh!

At least it wasn't stressful though! I planned where I was going to shop using https://www.salemole.com and it wasn't busy at all!

I bought mainly clothes - Ted Baker had great discounts on their first sale day and other random brand clothes by going to House of Fraser and doing all the shopping in one place! Annoying that they closed all of the changing rooms at 12 o'clock though!! Has anyone else found this?

What a surprise you mentioning that website in one of your posts. Not :rotfl: . This is your site...isn't it? Be honest now.

Always_Harassed

Was shopping in Glasgow yesterday and the only bargains that I got were low priced items light tights and toiletries. Bought a jacket and it has been the same price for several weeks not even reduced VAT on it. Many of the so called bargains are the same price but have had there original price increased to make them look a good buy. A lot of the shops were half empty. Usually buy bags of stuff from Next Clearance and bought nothing. Shop has less stock than normal but is still as untidy and unorganised as usual. New Look could do with someone to help them organise stock so customers can find stock. Staff in Buchanan St just bung stuff anywhere - have watched them as waiting for people in changing rooms. Glasgow is usually one of the best shopping places not this week.

pixelchick10

Yes I went today and apart from some half price body creams from Body Shop, a PVC bag from Paperchase and a jacket from Next for my DD -- didn't really see anything I fancied -- or anything that was better than in the pre-Christmas sales. Saw some boots (Ugg-style) in John Lewis and Aldo but they were still £50 odd quid (from £90 admittedly - but then thought £50 still seemed a lot - aim I being mean and taking this money-saving to extreme?!!