I generally like Crush and enjoy a lot of the interesting and unique wines that they bring in, but I must admit that the tactics of their recent progressive sale leave me a little irritated.
Case in point: the 2010 Coudert Griffe du Marquis, a wine which I purchased from Crush for $32.95 last year, appears to have been marked up to $53.95 and then ‘discounted’ by 40% to a net of $32.37.
I guess they are counting on the psychological power of a discount to drive purchases of wines that are essentially priced at retail?
I quit browsing the sale items after a few pages of generally underwhelming “discount” prices; unless I read it wrong, they have the normal retail price of Leflaive’s Clavoillon at over $200. Since when?
I was offered it recently at $1250 by another store. I was tempted . . .
The previous price at Crush of $1300 was not listed as net. I wonder if there was a case discount? …
Anyway, if I understand the deal here, “List Price: $2,297.95 Sale Price: $1,378.77” means that they stand some chance of an unparted fool coming along today and buying it at $1,378.77. If it doesn’t sell today, tomorrow it will be $1,379 - $230 = $1149 which is a good price and probably still some profit for them. Then Wednesday, if it doesn’t sell, it will be back to $1300 or $2,297.95?
It is up to them to try and fool us and it is up to us to determine what is, and what is not, a good deal. All these things are as old as time.
Heck, I even went to buy a DVD to support Maryland public television the other day. Six to eight week delivery time and shipping and handling costs that had no tether to what it might reasonably cost to ship and handle a DVD. I said no thanks after hearing that nonsence. That’s what every consumer has the power to say…“No.” Only until you say “no” and some sales gimmick stops working, will retailers end the practice.
I used to really look forward Crush’s progressive sales but over the last couple of years the aforementioned practice has sadly become the norm. There are still 8-10 nice deals but the majority of the items are not. Even worse the exorbitant markups they put in place before the sale, to make the prices look better, comes off as deceptive. Because there are other examples of businesses employing this model does not make it good business. I would personally rather do business with an organization that offers the same prices at 10% discounts and is transparent about their pricing. Those of us who are more educated consumers (who appear to be their target clientele) know what the price should be and what a good deal is anyway.
I don’t agree with this as a definition of normal business practice. The fact that so many of us consider this particular “sale” anything but is proof enough that we consider other models the norm.
Deceptive is deceptive. Crush ought to be called out on this. A shame, because many of their items are found in such a limited fashion they can say nearly any price they want. I bit at the Roilette, which should be a very nice wine. Even with a false “40%” off price.
