Wikipedia

Discount sticker

Discount stickers are a price markdown that are used to alert shoppers to goods which have been reduced in price, such as food approaching its sell-by date or inventory in discount clothing or outlet stores.[1] Some stores, especially discount clothing stores, have been accused of using discount stickers to create the impression of price markdowns when there is none.[2][1]

Yellow discount sticker in use in Japan
Colour-coding is sometimes used for discount stickers

In certain contexts, specific types of stickers have had additional meaning. For example, yellow stickers are used for this purpose by several British supermarket chains, including Asda, Sainsbury's, and Tesco. Post Brexit cost of living increases in the UK, have highlighted the importance of "yellow sticker shopping" as a way to deal with real price increases.[3][4][5]

Grocery markdowns

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Marking down food prices at grocery stores allows for the stores to better manage their stock, and ensure some return on value of the good.[6] Especially for food that are perishable or has expiration dates, having an inventory management strategy that includes markdowns reduces food waste, simplifies inventory management and increases the likelihood of some profitability when satisfying a consumer need or demand for discounted prices.[6]

Improvements in the early 2000s to inventory management software has made applying discounts to perishable goods easier.[7] When consumers understand this practice of creating discounts on foods after perishability dates, the discounts don't harm consumer perceptions of the brands marked down.[7]

In Australia

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Yellow stickers have been used in Australia, including at Woolworths supermarkets.[8][9]

In Japan

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Looking for yellow sticker-tagged items has been noted as a way to save money when shopping in Japan.[10] One chain, Gyomu Super, has chosen to allow consumers to pick which items they place their sticker on, allowing customers to markdown up to 4 items.[11]

In the United Kingdom

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Bread reduced to clear in a Sainsbury's supermarket, London
 
Yellow stickers at Asda

In the United Kingdom, the stickers have been in use since at least 1993 when a director of J Sainsbury supermarkets wrote to The Times, in response to a customer complaint, to explain that a "bright yellow sticker" was placed across the item's original barcode to prevent it being scanned at the original price.[12]

In 1999, Lynne Truss referenced yellow stickers in an article in The Times lamenting the low quality of a football team, as though they had been picked at Asda at yellow-sticker time before their shelf life expired.[13] In 2013, journalist Candida Crewe explained in The Times that she was able to live the "high life", despite having little money, by using a variety of money-saving techniques that included being "addicted to those cheerful yellow 'reduced' stickers at the end of a supermarket's day", loyalty cards, and wearing only black.[14]

In 2018, yellow-sticker shopping was the subject of a paper in Area, the academic journal of the Royal Geographical Society. The authors noted the unpredictable nature of the practice with success being celebrated and described in ways that contrasted with the more mundane weekly shop.[15]

In May 2023, it was reported that according to research by Barclays Bank, 38 per cent of British shoppers were buying yellow-stickered items to make their money go further during the cost-of-living crisis.[3][4] It was reported that the items were so in demand that Tesco staff had been forced to surround them with barriers while applying the stickers to prevent disorder as buyers grabbed the reductions.[16][17] The barriers had first been used by Tesco during the COVID-19 pandemic for social distancing purposes.[17] Design Week reported that an app had been developed to help buyers incorporate the discounted purchases into their home cooking.[18]

In July 2023, the BBC noted that the colour yellow, used because it was thought to be "warm and welcoming", had also been adopted by retailers in their labels for items that were permanently discounted for members of loyalty schemes, such as the Tesco Clubcard scheme.[5]

Food still unsold after being reduced in price may be donated to a food bank or sent for anaerobic digestion.[19]

As of 2017, some UK budget supermarkets, such as Aldi, do not use the stickers.[20]

In December 2023, The Daily Telegraph reported that the use of yellow stickers might end as British supermarkets introduced dynamic pricing models that automatically reduced the cost of goods as they reached their expiration date. Electronic shelf labels (ESLs) were being trialled that were hoped to reduce labour costs in applying discount stickers and production costs by more clearly signalling pricing differentials between packaged and unpackaged fresh produce. It was hoped they would also cut food waste by more closely aligning prices to customer demand.[21]

Clothing retail

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Retailers of major brands such as Nordstroms have developed specific outlet stores to direct market "discounted" lines of clothing, some of which are designed specifically for the outlets.[1] Some discount clothing stores have been accused of using discount stickers to create the impression of price markdowns when there is none.[2][1]

In 2012, JC Penny tried to stop using discount stickering and other discounts, in exchange for a permanent across the board markdown.[22] The company rolled backed this pricing strategy after sales declined due to lack of discount stickers and other consumer signals of "getting good deals".[23][24][25] The period where prices were adjusted upward, resulted in price stickers that increased the price paired with huge discounts, creating consumer confusion.[26]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Ettinger, Jill (2023-07-14). "Irate shopper calls out Nordstrom Rack for deceptive price tag: 'Ignore the before prices and percentages'". The Cool Down. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  2. ^ a b "Shopper disappointed to find sale sticker has same price as tag underneath, but Uniqlo explains why". Stomp. 2023-06-18. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  3. ^ a b Houlton, Cara (9 May 2023). "Nearly 40% of shoppers buying 'yellow sticker' reduced food products". Grocery Gazette. Archived from the original on 2023-07-01. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  4. ^ a b Calnan, Marianne (13 May 2023). "Best times of day to get 'yellow sticker' supermarket bargains revealed". Which. Archived from the original on 2023-07-01. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  5. ^ a b Peachey, Kevin (16 April 2023). "Loyalty cards: How a big yellow label influences what we buy". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2023-07-01. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  6. ^ a b Wang, Jiang-Tao; Yu, Jian-Jun; Yuan, Yu-Hsi; Tsai, Sang-Bing; Zhang, Shu-Fen (2021-02-03). "Markdown Time for Perishables Based on Dynamic Quality Evaluation for Complex Data Analysis". Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing. 2021: e6695626. doi:10.1155/2021/6695626. ISSN 1530-8669.
  7. ^ a b Theotokis, Aristeidis; Pramatari, Katerina; Tsiros, Michael (March 2012). "Effects of Expiration Date-Based Pricing on Brand Image Perceptions". Journal of Retailing. 88 (1): 72–87. doi:10.1016/j.jretai.2011.06.003.
  8. ^ "Major change to reduced buys at some Woolworths stores sparks furious debate". 7NEWS. 2022-01-25. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
  9. ^ Poposki, Claudia (2022-12-02). "Woolworths workers share best times to get a bargain". News.com.au.
  10. ^ "Tip for saving money in Japan: Visit supermarket just before closing time". Japan Today. 2015-04-08. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
  11. ^ "Japanese supermarket entrusts customers with unusual discount sticker system". SoraNews24 -Japan News-. 2022-03-31. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  12. ^ Elvidge, Hamish (10 June 1993). "Supermarket tomato price does not seem to check out". The Times. p. 27.
  13. ^ Truss, Lynne (3 May 1999). "Monday Matters". The Times. p. 35.
  14. ^ Crewe, Candida (12 October 2013). "How I Live the High Life—When Broke". The Times Magazine.
  15. ^ Kelsey, Sarah; Morris, Carol; Crewe, Louise (March 2019). "Yellow-sticker shopping as competent, creative consumption". Area. Vol. 51, no. 1. pp. 64–71. Archived from the original on 2023-07-01.
  16. ^ Chakelian, Anoosh (6 April 2023). "The dystopian rise of supermarket discount security barriers". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  17. ^ a b Bayford, Kristian (2 November 2022). "Tesco introduces security barriers to stop shoppers snatching reduced items". Grocery Gazette. Archived from the original on 18 December 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  18. ^ Bamford, Abbey (23 February 2023). "Uncommon CX cooks up interactive cost-of-living cookbook". Design Week. Archived from the original on 2023-07-01. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  19. ^ Amos, Owen (3 November 2016). "Yellow stickers: Secrets of cut-price food revealed". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2023-07-10. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  20. ^ Morley, Nicole (17 August 2017). "I did my entire weekly shop buying discounted yellow sticker food". Metro. Archived from the original on 2018-01-11. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  21. ^ "Supermarkets on brink of dynamic pricing", Madeleine Ross, The Daily Telegraph, 30 December 2023, p. 10.
  22. ^ "J.C. Penney to replace sales with permanent discounts". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  23. ^ "Lessons from the failure of J.C. Penney's new pricing strategy". www.priceintelligently.com. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  24. ^ "JCPenney caught marking up prices, only to lower them - SMU". www.smu.edu. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  25. ^ "JCPenney CEO raising prices". Retail Dive. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  26. ^ "J.C. Penney says new price markups confusing customers". www.jsonline.com. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
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