Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The real scoop on discount shopping



Discount shopping is a serious skill. I know that sounds funny. But break it down into the parts, and you realize that there are skills involved here. The reality is that certain people have a great skill here that others don't have. I think this is often overlooked by people who do not study consumer behavior very closely. The entire field of consumer behavior exists because there are different styles of shopping that people use.

So what is the profile of the discount shopper? There are several factors that people who are good shoppers will exhibit. A big one is patience. Bad shoppers are impatient. There is certainly timing involved in finding a good bargain at a store. Because there are not sales all the time, you need to be at the store when a sale is actually happening. It takes some homework ahead of time to know where the best deals will be. The high quality shopper is planner and gets this information ahead of time.

Good discount shoppers also know the places to find this great deal info. While similar, this is a different capability. This skill involves doing detective work to find the best sources for information about the best deals. Taken together, these shoppers are both disciplined and focused. In summary, a discount shopper is not someone who just happens on a sale and saves tons of money. If you feel you are not saving enough money when you shop, perhaps you need to examine both your ability to find the sources where deals are published as well as you discipline to only buy when sales are running. Taken together, these two skills will help you save big.



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