| Kippreport.com

The drive to spend

August 12, 2008 1:31 by kippreport

The Dh300 coupon that I had for Rivoli has just expired. Unfortunately, in spite of planning to spend the voucher for weeks, I never actually made it to the store, and am quite disappointed about wasting the voucher.
Giving out vouchers and coupons is one of the smartest marketing techniques. We buy stuff we really don’t need, only because we can get it cheaper. It rarely ever strikes us that if not for the voucher, we would have been richer by a lot more.
During events like the Dubai Summer Surprises and the Shopping Festival, cross vouchers (if you buy x, you will get 50 percent off on y) are rampant across the market, and hope to snare every passing customer.
And of course, there is also the flood of unnecessary coupons which slide under your door every morning— from furniture and restaurant vouchers to discounts on buying a building from one of the numerous agents in the city.

But still, a coupon in some ways seems to have the powers of Pied Piper. Are we bound to follow the tune, or can we block it out? What do you think?

Tags: coupon, discounts, Dubai, marketing, Money, shopping, spend, store, voucher