How to save 15,000 rubles on groceries: a sociologist revealed the secrets of discount promotions

Not all sellers’ special offers are beneficial for consumers

More than 80% of Russians buy products on promotions. This conclusion follows from the results of a survey by the international marketing agency IMA. Thanks to promotions, respondents save on products from 7 to 15 thousand rubles per month. But are discount promotions really that profitable? What should you pay attention to when choosing products in a store? How to shop economically for your wallet? Sociologist Oleg Maltsev told MK about this.

The share of those who buy food exclusively on promotions, the discount compared to regular purchases, fluctuates at 30%, the study says. Among the responses of the survey participants were: “I go into the store in the evening and see what we have on sale today – that’s what we’ll have for dinner,” “If the store doesn’t have discounts or promotions, we just turn around and leave.” It is a fact that many consumers are truly “hooked” on discount promotions. And it is not safe for consumers, our interlocutor claims.

– Since 2019, the share of those who eat mainly on promotional offers has approximately tripled. What is the trend related to?

– Indeed, buyers not only of offline stores, but also of online stores are chasing discounts. Some noted that when they go to a supermarket website, they immediately go to the section with promotions and select products only from this set, while others do not order products at all from a certain store if there is no way to apply a promotional code. There were also those who chase discounts on principle: for them, the presence of yellow (red, orange) price tags that mark discounted goods is more important than the actual savings.

– Can this be considered advertising techniques by retailers to increase sales?

– Promotions and special offers are a universal marketing tool that allows you to sell large volumes of goods in the shortest possible time. They are beneficial to both consumers and sellers because they help regulate demand for certain goods. Contrary to popular belief, promotions and special offers involve products of good quality and are fully covered by the law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights,” so they can be returned and exchanged under the same conditions.

– It turns out that “special offers” are not always something from the evil one?

– Promotions are a great opportunity to save money. Today, there are special applications that allow you to track promotions in all stores and compare offers. Thus, in order to find out where products are sold at a discount, there is no longer a need to raid all nearby supermarkets. But sometimes promotions are just a gimmick; the product is offered at the regular price and a colored price tag is attached to it. For people who are well versed in prices, this trick is obvious, but those who rarely go to stores fall for this trick. To avoid this, you just need to find out the average price of the product. Now this is easy to do using a smartphone and the Internet right in the store itself. Therefore, if you see discounts, do not rush to grab everything. First, it’s better to understand whether this is really a good offer.

– What should you pay attention to first of all in the rules of the promotion?

– Often, during promotions, goods are sold not individually, but in whole packages – the larger the quantity, the cheaper the product. It’s worth thinking carefully about such offers – do you need the entire volume of goods that are offered at a promotional price? It often happens that excess goods purchased at an attractive price are sent to the trash bin. What a savings! To prevent this from happening, buy in large quantities only what you use regularly and what has a long shelf life. For example, canned vegetables, which you periodically use for salads with a long shelf life, can be purchased in quantities of several cans, but dairy products purchased in large quantities may simply not wait in the wings and spoil.