subject: Truth about freebies [print this page] Truth about freebies Truth about freebies
Who doesn't love freebies? A freebie is simply a free item which you get from a retailer for one reason or another. Giving away free stuff is nothing new, neither is it rocket science. But both parties will always have to gain something or the other. For instance, when a sales promotion is going on in a supermarket, a manufacturer may decide to give away two for the price of one and benefit from saving money. Finding free stuff online has become easier than you can imagine.
Take for example a merchant retailer who operates through his online store, he would offer free shipping. In other circumstances it is also fairly easy to get free shipping coupons online which will help a consumer make savings on the shipping cost. But although it appears free to us consumers, is it really free? Well, someone must have paid something for it. The best time that free stuff is available is during sales. In some sales promotion, a free gift may be given away to each buyer who spends a certain amount of cash. Say you spend over $100, you get a free gift and depending on the store, the gift may even be of the same amount that you have spent.
Dead stock or slow moving stock is often given away as a free gift in some stores. Even during a close out sale, the retailer may add in a little gift to your purchase as a thank you. More people are likely to visit a store that gives away discounts with every purchase, just because it has offered a clearance sale bargain. A clearance sale aims to clear out stock that has not really moved out during the season it was meant to move out, so in fact a close down sale is an opportune moment to snag a bargain with a freebie. Not all free stuff is very helpful. Some people give away deals simply because they do not want it or they want to dump it on someone else.
A great idea for stores though, is to perhaps give away a free related service to the clients which again would help a customer make savings. This can be used as a sales promotion strategy by many brands in the market today. A gift certificate is also another way of giving customers a free item or service for their use and they end up saving money. This would then enable them to redeem this gift certificate perhaps at any of the branches for a certain reward. Other service industries, such as restaurants, could have a certain day each week set aside to give customers great freebie deals, such as a free plate of chips with every burger ordered every Tuesday or two for the price of one. This ensures there is a constant customer stream especially on these special days of the week. When a company is thinking of giving away freebies, it should consider giving the customer something meaningful.
