We’ve been talking about changing our spending habits since the beginning of the year here on The Women’s Room, not just cutting back, which we’ve all had to do either because we’ve got no money or because it feels totally wrong to be spending. But we’ve also stopped buying at full price, since there have been so many bargains around, so it’s with just a tiny amount of smugness that we can report findings from BrandAlley which vindicate our ramblings.
It claims today that 81% of Britain’s don’t expect to pay full price for anything at the moment, that’s four out of five of us looking for price cuts. Consequently, retailers have gone a bit bonkers in getting creative with their discounting ideas in a desperate bid to keep us spending.
On Wednesday 20th May for three days, Marks & Spencer is having a Penny Bazaar, where certain stock will just cost one penny. This is to celebrate its 125th anniversary and harks back to its origins on the market stall in 1884 where everything cost a penny. We haven’t seen the items, which will include jewellery, knickers, socks, ties and sweets, but the retailer tells us it has 2 million of them to sell. If you miss out there’s always the M&S magazine which is for sale at 1 penny.
And then there’s Warehouse, which is offering free clothes to customers who go into buy clothes from Tuesday for the next two weeks. Every day 100 customers will get their purchase totally free, including on line purchases, a little bit of luck is needed (ok it’s a gamble) but we have been quite impressed with the store on Argyll Street in London,which is really nicely laid out and there are some good, wearable basics on offer if you fight your way past the trends.
Finally flash sales website Brandalley is following up on its research by allowing customers to pick their price on a range of designer clothes and accessories for a four day period finishing on the 18th May. If you’re lucky, you can get a designer bargain for a low as £1, although you can pay more if you want, the profits are all going to the worthy charity Help for Heros.
So the next two weeks look like the time to pick up a bargain, and as we keep asking, is anyone still buying at full price?
