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Canal Street in New York City is a fun place to see marketing in action. The American free enterprise system is in vivid display year round as vendors hock items like perfume, watches, sea food and clothing.
Vendors on Canal Street have an arsenal of marketing weapons. While I was there I was reminded of a great tool to stretch money and a great gimmick designed to take more of our money.
Tool: Bargaining
Bargaining is at once fun and possible in many more situations than it appears. My wife haggled with a street vendor for a hat at 30% of of the already low advertised price. Her success led me to haggle with a woman to get nearly 50% off an item from my wish list.
What items and services do we assume we must overpay by paying the advertised price? Are there certain stores you have never tried to offer a lower than marked price? For instance most people will negotiate on a new or used car price, but few try to buy a new appliance for a bargain. A few months ago I bought a floor model office chair. I saved the assembly fee and asked for a "floor model discount." I saved time and money by simply asking for a better price.
Gimmick: Add-on
Add-ons are the extra costs retailers throw on (usually after we are emotionally committed). A caricature artist used a $5 advertised price to entice us. When he finished the caricature he attempted to add-on $15 for a flimsy cardboard frame. Hard to imagine paying 4x what we planned because of a "small" add-on. What add-on do sales-people try to get you to agree to? Many web sites offer effective free services knowing they will make a profit because of add-ons.
Canal Street is just a microcosm of the real marketing world which we live in. Each day we can choose the add-ons or the bargains. It's up to us to save 30-50% or to overpay by 400%.
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