When does the "Bye X get X" promotion end?

[Inko]

Is there ever a time when the "buy X get X promotion ends?" Meaning, if you gain critical mass on the demand side, can you say, "OK, no more promotion?

As always, thanks in advance.

INKO

[datruth]

Most of the time it is for the first month.

[shawn2]

I think it depends on your distributor. Da Truth is right with beverage distributors but in natural foods distributors- where it seems your product might be targeted-- specials run through-out the run of the product except where it has been there for years-- like China Cola-- you hardly ever see sales on that, but never products like tazo, honest, tribal tonics etc seem like they special them a lot.

[Ron Swedelson]

Ive sold Honest Tea and Tribal Tonics, they have both offered buy 5 get 1 free sort of deals. I can't speak for out of beverage sales, but in beverages, you get that a lot. Some for good reason, some for not. Look at Red Bull, #1 in their catagory, they still do buy x get y free deals 3 or 4 times a year. The biggest reason for that, is you hope that if a store loads up on your product, they will want to push it even more. The other good reason, is when you have that store that will only buy a case or two at a time, but is always our of product when you come back. This way, it gives the store some savings, and you end up with better sales cause now your product is always in. Past that, trying to get better marketshare or new accounts is a good reason. We will never see the end of this sort of thing in Beverages. Just part of the game.

[Oscar Brunner]

As a speciality retailer, I can't stand pushy distributors with inferior products using these kind of tactics. All in all, in my 20 years at it, I have seen a number of them go by the wayside. Usually, it is a good sign to NOT buy the product.

[sodasommelier]

Usually the Buy X Get X Free deal ends either when all retailers in the community have their stockrooms stacked to the ceiling with the junk or when the distributor goes out of business. Another possible cause is if the manufacturer itself goes out of business.

I think this tactic is mainly used to get away with making big bucks on sales of one case only, but I think that because so many people do it, it becomes almost necessary if your product is too similar to the ones that are sold that way.

For specialty shops it's unlikely that the X - X products will be a good thing to get; perhaps on rare occasion but yes I'd say these deals are often suspect.

[Inko]

We're just doing it because we're new and want to give our customers the best margins possible.

I didn't realize there could be animosity towards a buy x get x free.

In my mind, our wholesale price will always be the Buy 3 get one Free (which brings the cost per bottle down to a buck). I don't expect anyone to pay our $16 per 12-pack price at the outset of our company, maybe later.

I just thought the operative word "free" is still a pretty good sales tool--present posters notwithstanding. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Ink

[sodasommelier]

"Rebate" is also a good selling tool but anyone who is basically astute can tell that anything that is sold as "buy x get x free" is revealing its real price by taking the total amount and dividing it by the total number of cases received. The only problem is that if you only have room for one case you're going to get ripped off.

It's kind of like these fly-by-night phone companies who con you out of everything they can to cover their telemarketers who tell you that your ultimate cost will be really cheap if all of your friends sign up and if you call between this and that hour and the best one of all is the all calls up to 20 minutes cost only a dollar; you call and get an answering machine and then get a bill for a dollar.

If people simply say what something costs, then I think it's a much better way of doing business. Of course the more buy x get x deals out there, the more you have to offer because of the duh people who won't even look at something that isn't buy x get x free. That's kind of like the people who are willing to get ripped on the price of a car because of the "low monthly payment". The higher the number "x" before "free", the more popular the sale even if the price is a joke. Well, whatever gets your stuff sold, I suppose!!

[RunWithDaLilGuy]

people usually like the buy one get one, it's just that the cynical minds (mine included) here on this board see the reasoning behind it: big companies use it to get people hooked on their products.

i think you'd be fine if you used it for a little while. make sure it's not just on the shelf of the grocery store hidden between the mistics and the snapples.

[Inko]

Guess what. the buy three get four works, er, I mean, they want a dollar under that. LOL.

Not a big deal because we made our first sales, all to the top three gourmet markets in Manhattan.

WOO HOO!

You respondants, man, I owe you each a bottle!

Inko