Call this a discount?

Question

So, determined to do my floor tiles properly, and needing some flexible tile adhesive, I tracked down an Ardurit dealer on the web, drove over there on Saturday and...they were closed (must be the holidays). On the way back, as Plan B, I stopped in Topps Tiles who, as it happened, had just the thing I was after, albeit their own brand. "How much is that then?" (pointing at a 20 kg bag of flexible rapid set with no price on it) "Err...*tap tap*...=A353" "What's so special about it....How much is your regular rapid set?" "Err...*tap tap*...=A353...How much have you been paying for that?" "About =A310...... So you're just ridiculously expensive then" "Err...well, I could do it for you for =A320"

Is this a 'marketing' approach? Sell the tiles cheap (I presume, I never stopped to look at their prices) and crank up the profit with ridiculous costs for the other bits and pieces. Caveat emptor, I guess.

I wonder what I could have got it for if I had haggled. As it was, I shoved him a 20 and scooted before he decided he'd made a mistake and changed his mind.......

Lobster · Accepted Answer

Right in one. It's exactly the same as in carpet warehouses etc - they highlight the cost of the 'discounted' tiles/carpets and then crank up the price on the cement/underlay to make their profit and hope that either you don't notice, or by the stage you're handing over your Visa card you're past caring.

David

Tanner-'op · Answer

Have you ever looked at a major supermarkets "Roll Back" on 3000 prices?

Have look at what they reduce - and then see where they increase the prices of their other products (on the other 6000 or so), which is usually the amount they have knocked off elsewhere, plus a percentage on top of that.

Con or what?

Dave · Answer

I paid a visit to Asda a few minutes ago get get some beer tokens for lunchtime tomorrow and noticed that they were 'rolling back 3000 prices per week'. I thought of writing a letter asking what prices they had reduced in the last few weeks, but as you know, Asda is so full of s**t that you couldn't tell if the answer was the truth (doubtful) or bulls**t

No 'or what' about it :-(

Dave

Mary Fisher · Answer

You do lead an interesting life!Mary

Frank Erskine · Answer

Almost the only time I tend to use Asda these days is when I run short of booze at 10·30 pm - there's a 24/6¼ Asda store a couple of miles away (me - an alcoholic? Not really...!). It's a pretty depressing sort of place really, although they do sell some large mushrooms which I occasionally buy when I'm there, to have, stuffed, for a light evening meal.

I've seen some "roll back" slogan but I have no idea what it's supposed to mean; nor do I really care. Actually it sounds a bit kinky...

Paul Matthews · Answer

I think that is getting to be standard practice now - headline product cheap,but the bits mount up - look at camera shops and flash cards as an example.

matthew.larkin · Answer

But they are only playing to our perceptions of what is expensive and what isn't. If they didn't make a decent profit in their business, they wouldn't continue doing it. And for the very large organisations, the profit that we help them to generate today carries forward into good pension investments for those of us whose pensions depend on the capital markets growing.

Matt

Call this a discount?

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