Are you one of those people who only shop when stores have their 50% or 75% promotion sales? If you are then this blog is just for you.

I used to be one of those people who jumped every time I heard that one of my favourite stores was having a sale. I knew that this was when I would buy those items that I had been eyeing for a while but couldn’t afford to buy until now. So I would save my pennies and when the time came, which was usually a few days before month-end, I would go and shop.

I used to be so proud and brag about the many discounts I got and be like “I bought 5 items for under R500”. Well this was until recently when I started noticing and hearing strange things about these so called “promotional sales”. In this blog I am going to help you stop being a victim of these promotional lies that they feed us constantly.

I read an article on Facebook about how a big well-known retail store was using this theory of 50% or 75% off sale as a way to get more customers by using false sales amounts. I also read an online article from Women24.com, about people complaining about what this store was doing. They were actually using the “promotional sale” tactic to increase prices on items rather than discounting prices.

I was shocked to discover this because not many of us actually check the original price. Or sometimes the store hides the original price under the promotion sticker, which makes it difficult for us to compare and really calculate the actual discount.

The more I read I discovered other articles about various international stores like J.C Penney, who were doing something even more disturbing. I read an article on Learnvest.com which described how normally ‘each retailer sets its own original and sale prices, depending on factors like their customer base and sales events. If a store can’t really afford to offer a discount, often they’ll simply alter the original price so that consumers just think they’re getting a great bargain’, which is what J.C Penney had been reportedly doing previously.

After reading these and many other articles, my whole perception on buying my clothes when the stores say 50% or 75% off has completely changed. I cannot tell you how important it is to read and know what you are getting out of the many deals you come across every day. It’s not fair that companies do this, but then again they are businesses whose main aim is to make a profit. I think that if more people actually paid attention to the many things that they come across daily, whether it be promotional sales or cheap deals on mobile phones, then their lives would be so much better.

I now know what to look for whenever I go shopping and I encourage you to read and research some more before you quickly take out your credit cards and buy. I hope you found this blog helpful and if you have some more suggestions please send them through by commenting below or sending us an email.

Don’t be deceived by these promotional sales, make sure to read the label!

(This article was edited to remove the name of the retail store mentioned in the text.)