Keith Taylor
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2019
- Messages
- 354
- Reaction score
- 754
In reference to the satirical article about the cheapskate sales shopper complaining about business failures, something that may have gone ignored (though it’s hard to say in amongst the 90-notification shouting match to which I awoke) is the fact that people who shop in the sales aren’t necessarily temporarily embarrassed MSRP payers. They’re brand new customers who may simply not exist in the absence of sales.
I’m a cheapskate, there’s no doubt about it. Almost all of my clothes are vintage from eBay or found in seasonal sales, and while I walk around decked out in Brioni, Hartwood and Charvet like a big shot it’s all an act, because I consider $100 for a blazer a bit steep, and I’m sitting here in $3 boxer shorts I picked up from a Korean supermarket
As long as the option exists to dress well on a budget I’ll take that option, but if that option were ever removed I’d revert to just... y’know, not dressing well. There’s nothing any business could do to convert me from a sales shopper to someone who walks into a high end store and pays full price.
Long story short, when Brooks Brothers runs a sale to get rid of an overstock of last season’s OCBDs that’s the only reason I’d ever walk into one of their stores. If the sale didn’t occur I’d be down the street in a branch of the Gap, glumly tolerating their cheaper wares. I don’t know enough about profit margins to know if stores gain any real benefit from sale items, but the reality is that it’s that or nothing. As long as the store prices their sale items to at least break even I'm not imposing a cost on that business.
I’m a cheapskate, there’s no doubt about it. Almost all of my clothes are vintage from eBay or found in seasonal sales, and while I walk around decked out in Brioni, Hartwood and Charvet like a big shot it’s all an act, because I consider $100 for a blazer a bit steep, and I’m sitting here in $3 boxer shorts I picked up from a Korean supermarket
As long as the option exists to dress well on a budget I’ll take that option, but if that option were ever removed I’d revert to just... y’know, not dressing well. There’s nothing any business could do to convert me from a sales shopper to someone who walks into a high end store and pays full price.Long story short, when Brooks Brothers runs a sale to get rid of an overstock of last season’s OCBDs that’s the only reason I’d ever walk into one of their stores. If the sale didn’t occur I’d be down the street in a branch of the Gap, glumly tolerating their cheaper wares. I don’t know enough about profit margins to know if stores gain any real benefit from sale items, but the reality is that it’s that or nothing. As long as the store prices their sale items to at least break even I'm not imposing a cost on that business.
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