A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

You’re probably being bombarded with ads, emails and texts about all the deals that are going on right now. Amazon, of course, is leading the way with Prime Days and other major retailers have started to follow suit. Even Duluth Trading Company has ‘Grime Days’ (which I think is sort of clever, but I’m already a fan so I’m biased). Are these special ‘deals’ events really that special? Maybe! But let’s dig into what’s going on here.

First of all, why are they all in July?

Ah how quickly we forget. Remember when all the deals in July were something about ‘Black Friday in July’? (Don’t even get me started on Black Friday. Because I have to save that post for November.) Basically July is a perfect time for huge sales because it’s roughly halfway until the holidays. It makes sense for companies to have events more spread out during the calendar year, so they can even out their sales. The sales being in July only benefits you, the consumer, if you were in specific need of something and didn’t want to wait until Labor Day (or the next big sale weekend).

Why are the sales so limited? Only two days??

Ughhhh I’m so glad you asked. Let me tell you a little story. It was close to 2am in Kansas; I was staying up until Prime Day (only 1 day back then) started, which I assumed would be midnight PST because Amazon is headquartered in Seattle (yeah I was overthinking this big time). As 2am closed in, I needed to run to the restroom so I could be totally focused on the deals….even though I didn’t really know what I wanted to buy. In my rush, I knocked over my most precious, favorite bottle of Tom Ford perfume and it broke all over my bathroom floor. So there I am, 1:57am, arms flailing, running around the house trying to find a receptacle for the remaining perfume.

Eventually I saved a bit of the perfume in an empty marker cartridge from my daughter’s Crayola ‘Marker Maker’ kit (it actually worked pretty well, I could just draw the perfume on). Granted, my bathroom smelled awesome for a long time, but my frenzy for the sale didn’t really pay off. I think I bought some pheromones (doesn’t work gals), an inflatable kayak (Kansas is not a great place for kayaking) and a 23andMe kit (does work, and told me pretty much what I already knew), and sacrificed one of my favorite things.

These ‘limited’ sales work on an idea called scarcity. Humans are designed to be very aware of the resources in our environments, and very sensitive to the possibility that these resources could go away. Limited time, limited quantity and limited availability are all examples of scarcity. Whether or not I need anything, my brain is wired to pay attention to deals because it indicates that something may become scarce.

Why is scarcity so effective?

Once again, it goes back to what our brains are designed for. Hint: it’s NOT online shopping. We are very good at survival! To survive, our brains have identified that resources (e.g., food, tools) are important and we need to keep our eye on them. If a farmer ignores the harvest, it’s going to be a very rough winter. So, she ‘makes hay while the sun shines’ (i.e., takes advantage of the good situation).

Deals and sales, though, are not like the harvest. Most of the stuff we buy is not needed for survival, and I’d argue that most of the deals we get during these crazy sales are not planned.

There are even some people who are much more sensitive to scarcity than others. Some research shows that people who grew up in economically unstable environments (i.e., poor folks) are more attracted to deals and sales for this reason. I find this incredibly unfair, given that these people are likely to have less money overall.

Even I, a literal DOCTOR of marketing (haha), am very affected by scarcity; the best way I can describe it is feeling agitated and like I MUST do something….or buy something. My daughter, on the other hand, is good at talking me down. I will say, “We could get this awesome thing for $100 and save $50!!” and she’ll respond with, “Or we could not get it and save $100.” Very un-fun. But true.

What to do, what to do

Sales and deals can be fun and even beneficial, so I’m not advocating for ignoring all of them. But here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Be prepared – The best way to take advantage of these deals is to know what you need beforehand. Going in with a ‘let’s see what they have’ mindset is a recipe for impulse purchases.
2. Treat it as fun – Try to change your thinking from “Oh my gosh I had better pay attention or I’ll miss something important,” to “Wow this is a fun experience, let’s see what weird products exist.” This helps your brain focus on the pleasure of the experience, rather than the purchase itself.
3. Know when to quit – You found the thing you wanted and now you’re spending hours checking to see if you need anything else, or making the shipping cost ‘worth it’. Reminder: most times these deals ship for free. There is no need to add to your cart to make the purchase, or your time, ‘worth it’.
4. Remember the tradeoff – Spending time and money on a sale means that you’re taking time and money away from something else. I stayed up late and broke a bottle of perfume so I could get some goofy stuff. The cost of that goofy stuff was higher than just the price. Yeah I’m still sad about my perfume!!
5. Repeat after me – “There is always going to be another killer deal”. There is. They are not scarce.