We have been in the market for a dog bed for a while. This is old one:
Roger is getting older so we had preliminarily settled on the fancy Casper orthopedic one designed for older dogs. It’s like $230 retail.
And on Black Friday? 10% off. I would have preferred no deal at that point.
And so instead, we bought two dog beds from Chewy.com, a medium and large orthopedic ones to see which size he preferred (and we saved $60). Did Chewy have a discount? idk.
I see a three fold problem here, just on the consumer side:
- These “deals” make me feel entitled. I saw one for $100 off, then it dropped another $60, I went to purchase, but changed my mind over hidden fees. I ignored unless emails said “our best deal ever” or “40% off” or something I already wanted.
- I also get skeptical as retailers just stack lie on top of lie, upping the ante. A blur of pre-Black Friday sales going on for two weeks, multiple “deal ending,” notices followed by a “we extended it one more day.” It pushes me away from wanting to support small DTC and I think, “Might as well by from Amazon.”
- What feels like gambling at slot machines for a few weeks results in burnout or hangover as it gets longer every year. We get more desensitized but at some cost I can’t put my finger on, like how the presidential election cycle went from a few months to years long process.
I asked Ann’s mom if she was doing any Black Friday shopping. Her response, “no.” Pressed further, she said there’s nothing in the world she wants.
Doesn’t that sound nice?
If you missed my post from yesterday, it was a good summary of my thinking on network science for marketing expert content.
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