Sylvia Huang

I believe that people who work in the marketing field have an edge when it comes to grabbing good deals.  It’s not that they have all the secrets about special deals and promotions, but rather they are more aware of how things work and how they can use something like that to their advantage.

Earlier this week I had posted about Circuit City’s cross-selling tactics.  This week I was able to use my experience and my knowledge about marketing to help my friend snag a much better deal than she would have originally received.

My friend was on a hunt for a new digital camera.  She wanted to have it in a few days so she could use before her trip, so buying something in-store was the only option as express shipping prices wouldn’t have been reasonable.  After a little bit of research, Circuit City came out on top as having the lowest price.  As she was about to purchase her camera online, I just remembered the 10% off special you get in-store when you go and pick up your order that you placed online.  I asked if she was planning on buying a memory card too and she said yes.  Perfect!  I told her that she should purchase the memory card online for in-store pick up and then purchase the camera in-store for 10% off!  That was exactly what she did and was able to save an extra $20.

I think that even if someone didn’t work in the marketing field, they would still recognize on how to effectively utilize such a deal.  However, I still think that constantly focusing on marketing helps us identify these opportunities more often.

About 2 weeks ago, I purchased something from Circuit City online and opted to pick it up in-store.  As I gave the guy my receipt, he went on to explain that since I purchased something online, I could now purchase anything else in the store for 10% off.  I thought about this for about 5 seconds and told him that I would pass this time.

My thoughts were, well I don’t need anything else, and 10% off really isn’t that much.  Little did I know that I would fall for their cross-sale the second time around.

Last week, I purchased something else from Circuit City online and the same thing happened where the guy offered 10% off.  So this time I was like, okay I’ll go look around.  As I walked around, I really didn’t see anything that I needed or really really wanted.  I saw some stuff that I might want, but I didn’t think 10% off was that good of a deal.

But what do you know?  I walk out with a CD.  A CD that I would not have bought otherwise.

So, I guess cross selling does work!