People love shopping.
And Dubai is a shopper’s paradise. There is nothing you cannot buy at a bargain price in the emirate.
Malls in Dubai stock everything – right from gold, luxury brands, street fashion to designer labels.
If you are a resident of Dubai, it is difficult to miss the all-year-around sale that most stores have. But the sale sign is only one of the tricks the retailers resort to.
Have you fallen for these tricks stores and salesperson use to make you spend more?
Big baskets = More shopping
Have you noticed some brands have salesperson positioned at the entrance to hand you a basket the moment you enter their shop? There is more to this friendly gesture than courtesy!
“Handing you a basket ensures that you will spend some extra time inside the shop instead of just browsing through. And when you are picking up clothes, we hand you bigger baskets as you might subconsciously want to fill it,” says a sales lady at a high-end label.
Clearance sales don’t promise the best prices
For some shoppers, clearance sales are irresistible. Signs like ‘Clearance Sale’ and ‘Further Reductions’ are reason enough for repeat shoppers to fill their bags.
“We dramatically mention the original price and marked-down price to make the customers understand they are in for a deal. Many a time, they end up buying not for their need but because of the percentage difference between the original and sale price,” says a sales guy at a shoe brand at Dubai Mall.
Combo offers aren’t really the best bargains
If you have been buying more than you need, you can shift the blame on the retailers – in some cases, at least. “The trick of bundling combos works across categories. Be it fruits, clothes, socks, cosmetics, bags, health products or medicines, consumers fall for anything that has a ‘Buy one, get one free’, ‘Buy two, get three’ tag to it. It just lures you to buy more and you might actually end up spending more than you intended,” says another salesperson.
Loyalty cards help us track your buying habits
Every time before billing, the lady at the cash counter would ask for a customer loyalty programme card.
“We track the customer’s shopping habits and know their frequency of shopping by merely entering their phone number in our system. Once the card is issued, it helps us retain the customers as they keep coming back when we broadcast about new offers,” says a sales manager at a premium coffee outlet.
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Crowded sections pull more shoppers
We are sure you are guilty of this one too! We have the tendency to step into a store or a particular section in a store if we spot too many people crowding the area.
“Shoppers usually crowd the ‘Clearance Sale’ section in the store and we can see more customers crowd the same area due to curiosity. This is good for us as more people from the mall will walk in to see what’s selling too, ” says a saleswoman at a Dubai store.
Time for some quick shopping
“We make at least 10% of our sales from the small items we place near the billing counter,” reveals a sales lady. “Socks, lockets, discounted jewelry, candles, cosmetics et al are all hot picks among our buyers. One of our everyday tasks is to keep these sections well stocked.”
Signs to lead you in
Like any business, retailers use the classic formula to over-sell their deals to you. “Up to 90% discount in a store could have only one line of clothes and much more up for grabs for 50%,” says a salesman.
Another trick retailers use on social media and displays is to create an urgency with words like ‘Shop Now’, ‘Till stocks last’, ‘For a limited time only and so on.
Now that you are aware of tricks that retailers use to influence your psychology, be a conscious shopper and shop smarter. Enter malls with a budget and shopping list in mind to avoid indulging in overbuying.
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