It's your first visit to Israel and you decide to take a stroll around town. You are hoping to buy some nice souvenirs for family and friends. Lucky for you the nice tourist shop in the hotel has decided to give you a 50% discount because you are such a brave tourist. Additionally the beautiful Judaica shop on Ben Yehuda is giving you a 60% discount as long as you pay over $2,000 on items in the store. These shops are giving you these "great" discounts because its their "Grand Opening Sale". What a wonderful day!
But you know what they say… if it’s too good to be true, it probably isn't.
Here are some sales terms that in America mean true savings, but regretfully here in Israel mean true headache.
List price: Disregard this number. There is no connection between this number and the actual price. There is no MSRP in Israel. A manufacturer would never have the chutzpah to "suggest" a retail price to a wholesale company. Each store makes up a list price that fits in well with their "huge" discounts.
Large order sale: Now we're talking extreme savings - or so you would think. Many times I have been told, "The price for one is 30 shekels, but I will make you a deal. I want to sell all of the pieces I have left in stock, if you buy all 90 I will sell them to you for 28 shekels.” Sounds like a good deal right? But what am I going to do with 90 wine glasses?
Factory outlet: Rumor has it that Naot has a factory store up north. I still have not witnessed this first hand, and cannot therefore attest that it is not some sort of sales scheme. As a default, I would be wary of any Israeli telling you, " This price is better than anywhere else, there is no need to do price comparison. We are the factory outlet".
Seconds: Merchandise that is more extensively or apparently flawed than irregulars and imperfects and should be more deeply discounted; it sounds like a good deal right? Between you and me, if it looks broken, it probably is…
Comparable value: What the retailer considers the merchandise to be worth. This does not mean the item ever did, or ever will, sell at that price. All in all, this is a comparatively unscientific term and shouldn't bedazzle you. Disregard it, similar to "list price".
Liquidation sale: This is generally held by a store going out of business in order to completely unload stock. Discounts often start at about 30 percent and go up to 80 percent and more, as the store counts down to its final days. Note: Be extremely wary! There are stores in Geula and Meah Shearim that have been going out of business for 20 years now. I have to admit it’s an interesting sales tactic though…
Close-out sale: Another potential for major savings. In this case, the retailer gets a deal from the manufacturer on discontinued items, and passes some of the savings on to the consumers. As if! What’s really going on is that the store is having problems selling the merchandise. To make matters worse, the store has in addition realized that the items they did manage to sell had defects. The store has now decided to move the product at a faster rate, in order to get it off their shelves.
Grand opening sale: This sales strategy normally is used to increase market share and shop awareness amongst potential customers. Unfortunately, this commonly abused sales tactic works only on tourists. After seeing stores that have had grand opening sales for the span of a decade, you start to wonder if this tactic ever gets old… I figure, if they are still having the sale, there must still be people out there being fooled.
Balloon sale: Common sale found in the United States. To be honest I have no idea how it got its name. I have no idea how a balloon can attract customers unless they are looking to sell items to children aged 2 -4. Finding customers in that age bracket who have credit cards would be challenging unless your store is located in Manhattan.
Buy 1 get 3 free: This sales tactic was made famous by Optica Halperin. After tens of years of customers purchasing only what they needed, Optica Halperins sales and marketing team got a bit greedy. In an effort to lure potential customers they quadrupled their prices and offered a “buy one get 3 free sale". Sounds great right? But who needs 4 pairs of glasses? Note: Optica Halperin did not realize that prescription glasses are not really an impulse buy.
Moadon: Many Israeli stores have picked up on this sales tactic from the United States sales giants ( Best Buy - Walgreens- Giant Food) . Unfortunately, they did not calculate the discount to Moadon purchase price properly. “ No sir, I am not willing to pay 500 Nis right now so I can save 2% on all sock purchases I will be making at your store all year”. Do not be fooled by the potential savings - rarely does it make sense to buy into a Moadon. If It did they wouldn’t only ask you about signing up once you had taken your wallet out in preparation to pay. (my mother in law thinks some Moadonim are worth it…)
All in all, I love Israel. Even though the price points in the United States are better, I am happy I live here. As you can tell by this and also previous posts, I did not move to Israel for the sales. I moved here because that’s what an observant Jew has got to do! (also because my in-laws are great!)
