There's Always Another Sale Thread -- Discussions Only Pt 6

WendyLuvsCatz

AI Overview

Online stores are legally allowed to hide or lower prices until the cart primarily due to Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) agreements, along with privacy strategies, data collection, and system functions. [1, 2, 3]

• Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) Agreements: Manufacturers set rules prohibiting retailers from publicly advertising prices below a certain threshold. Because a public product page is considered an advertisement, retailers use a loophole by making you add the item to your digital cart, which is treated as a private point-of-sale interaction rather than a public ad.
• Evading Web Crawlers: Manufacturers use automated web crawlers to scan the internet and penalize retailers who violate MAP rules. Bots cannot add items to a shopping cart to see the hidden discounts, allowing retailers to bypass automated enforcement.
• Customer Engagement: Hiding prices acts as a psychological hook, encouraging the user to take an active step (putting the item in the cart) to reveal the price, which psychologically increases the likelihood of completing the purchase.
• Real-Time Data Collection: Tracking items in carts allows retailers to better profile user interest and measure conversion funnels, even if the item is eventually abandoned. 

Shocked, shocked I am, the world has changed

 

Tomhip

To be honest its probably in line with recent sales over all. The Soup sale just came out of nowhere and was pretty sweet.

Torquinox

To me, just looking at the sale, the biggest problem is per generation coupons where each generation requires a buy in from a blob of expensive new items that don't interest me.
 

It's not that I'm serious about shopping, but a really good deal could have opened my wallet. These are not the deals I'm looking for.

jmucchiello

WendyLuvsCatz said:

Online stores are legally allowed...

Just because they can do a thing is not a reason they should do a thing. Hidden pricing says to customer, "Just give me your money. I don't care about you at all." 

jmucchiello

Torquinox said:

To me, just looking at the sale, the biggest problem is per generation coupons where each generation requires a buy in from a blob of expensive new items that don't interest me.

I'm G9, sure the buyin items are interesting, but there's no savings coupon for G9 outside of the featured artists. And while I do dabble in G3, everything on my wishlist is cheaper without the coupon.

It's not that I'm serious about shopping, but a really good deal could have opened my wallet. These are not the deals I'm looking for.

You can go about your business. Move along.