In your everyday life, it can be difficult to distinguish between a Price offer and Sales. We are exposed to different types of offers and sales all the time.
In Denmark “tilbud” is used for both getting a Price offer and for getting a Price quotation! “Udsalg” is equal to the English term “on sale”.
Terms like on sale, price offer, campaign price, membership-/club offer, discontinuation sale, Outlet and many more, makes it difficult to navigate in what is correct and what to use when. It is understandable that it’s difficult, as a consumer, to have the correct knowledge about. Just imagine what it’s like for the entrepreneur to know when to use what and when.
A lot of the legal cases between for ex. the consumer and the retailer, is due to the fact, that the retailer doesn’t know the correct rules and laws in this area. Not because of “evil intent”.
In this blog, we will go through the main differences between Price offer and Sales. The use of price reduction, before and after price etc. will be the subject in another blog.
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What is the difference between using the terms Price offer and Sales (On Sale)?
Sales/On sale
In retail it is common to have two major Sales periods, Summer and Winter sales. They are essentially there for selling out the rest of your old season collection, leftovers from earlier campaigns etc. Today we have more “seasons” in retail and are almost all year around, met with some form of Sales.
One thing hasn’t changed though, it is still about selling out the old stock, to make space for new assortment and collections.
Rule of thumb: You can use the term Sales/On sale when you sell out old stock, have a change of collections or season.
Price offer
When we talk Price offers, we talk about something out of the ordinary, meaning not the “normal price”. Most people are familiar with price reductions in advertising and weekly offers from the assortment in retail. But you can also use Price offer when selling special bought goods, residual goods and campaign offers. There are other types of Price offers!
All Price offers has one thing in common, there is a price reduction compared to its “normal” price.
As said, it can be difficult to distinguish between the terms Sales/On sale and Price offer as goods on Sales that has been reduced in price is also a price offer.
Rule of thumb: When you reduce an item, making a price offer, it may only be marketed as a sale if the conditions described in the section Sale are met. Otherwise, you may only use the term Price offer!
I will be going through the using of before/after prices and saving prices in the blog: General use of before / after and savings prices.
Rules and definitions you may not be aware of!
The time period/length of a Price offer in form of Opening price/offer, Introduction price/offer or Birthday price/offer can by law not extend more than a two week period. Introduction price/offer although, can in some cases be excepted. It is to be evaluated case by case.
Example: You have bought 500 T-shirts to a special price and to be used as an introduction offer. You are in this case allowed to sell the 500 pieces over a longer period for ex. three months, being able to sell out this batch. You are not allowed to add more pieces and hereby artificially extend the price offer. All T-shirts sold after the first batch must be sold to the “normal” price.
Goods for daily consumption and seasonal goods have different rules. They are defined by §7 in the Danish law on Consumer agreements, as everyday food, non-alcoholic beverages and other goods for the daily consumption.
Read the blog: Quick guide to frequently asked questions (FAQ)! - price.
