Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud or
Speaker 1: the Order, Kernie Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through.
Speaker 1: As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and
Speaker 1: the storytelling of you to make a difference for today
Speaker 1: and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Speaker 4: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the pod
Speaker 4: that turns.
Speaker 2: Your wallet from ghosted to gloat up.
Speaker 4: I'm your host, Victoria Devine, and today, in this spookiest
Speaker 4: week of the year, Halloween Week, we're diving into one
Speaker 4: of the most hauntingly effective traps retailers set for us,
Speaker 4: which is the psychology of discounts. And I couldn't think
Speaker 4: of a better time to dive into this topic. To
Speaker 4: be honest, Once spooky season wraps up, we're about to
Speaker 4: be haunted by a different kind of monster. Are Black Friday,
Speaker 4: and trust me, it's not just Black Friday. Boxing Day
Speaker 4: sales are also creeping up right behind it. But don't worry,
Speaker 4: because I am here to see you through all of
Speaker 4: the tricks and only come away with the real treats.
Speaker 4: So let's drump straight in. My trick Number one is
Speaker 4: scarcity tactics. Have you ever seen on a website there's
Speaker 4: only two left in stockhol this is the last day
Speaker 4: for you to say fifty percent and then you get
Speaker 4: a little pang of panic. That's what's called a scarcity tactic,
Speaker 4: and it's actually a massive psychological trigger that retailers are
Speaker 4: you to get.
Speaker 2: Hold of your money. And here is how it works.
Speaker 4: So a retailer creates what we call a false sense
Speaker 4: of urgency to trick your brain into thinking that you
Speaker 4: need that thing right now, because otherwise you'll miss out right.
Speaker 2: And I'm a fomo girl.
Speaker 4: Let's be honest, who hasn't felt fomo when they see
Speaker 4: it's a limited time offer? And the truth is a
Speaker 4: lot of these and I think this is so sneaky.
Speaker 2: A lot of.
Speaker 4: These low stock warnings are actually just purely marketing, which
Speaker 4: is designed to rush you into a purchase, and I'm
Speaker 4: statscal so I have another stat for you. Did you
Speaker 4: know that forty two percent of Australians admit to making
Speaker 4: impulse purchases that they later on regretted because they fell
Speaker 4: victim to an urgency tactic. Obviously, that really sucks and
Speaker 4: I totally get it because I have fallen victim to
Speaker 4: those traps before. But next time you feel rushed by
Speaker 4: a limited stock message, have a think about it, take
Speaker 4: a deep breath and then wait twenty four hours before
Speaker 4: making that purchase. If you still on it tomorrow, then
Speaker 4: maybe it is worth it. The next trick that I
Speaker 4: want to talk about is called anchoring, and this is
Speaker 4: something that I think is relatively funny because anchoring is
Speaker 4: something that I actually used to stay on track. But
Speaker 4: when it comes to marketing, anchoring is something that you've
Speaker 4: probably seen on TikTok on Instagram recently, because in Australia
Speaker 4: it has been all over the news because the big
Speaker 4: supermarkets have been doing it and they've actually been called
Speaker 4: out consistently for it, and I think they should be.
Speaker 4: But they've been called out for what's called illusionary discounts,
Speaker 4: which is where they inflate the price for a couple
Speaker 4: of weeks, only then to slash them back down to
Speaker 4: what they actually could be. And if this sounds familiar,
Speaker 4: there are a lot of TikTok videos flying around at
Speaker 4: the moment where the price of let's say, dishwasher tablets
Speaker 4: has gone up over a few weeks, and then they
Speaker 4: discount them back to the original price, so it's not
Speaker 4: really a discount at all, and you think you're getting
Speaker 4: a good deal because when you're walking through the supermarket,
Speaker 4: you see the little yellow flag and go, great, this product,
Speaker 4: it's on sale.
Speaker 2: I'll purchase it.
Speaker 4: But we're not thinking too deeply about what the actual
Speaker 4: price is. Well, in psychology, this is called the anchoring effect,
Speaker 4: and it's literally everywhere. It's designed to make you think
Speaker 4: that you're getting a really good deal, but in reality,
Speaker 4: you're just paying the regular price and it's wrapped up
Speaker 4: in a shiny discount bow. And I think that that
Speaker 4: is trash because your brain is being tricked into thinking
Speaker 4: that you're getting a steal when it's actually just back
Speaker 4: down to the normal price, and historically you were getting
Speaker 4: an even better discount before. And this trick creates what's
Speaker 4: called an anchor in your mind. And that high price
Speaker 4: makes the sale price look absolutely irresistible, even though it
Speaker 4: wasn't really a deal to begin with.
Speaker 2: As I said earlier in the show.
Speaker 4: On Statscale, I love to read, I love to do
Speaker 4: some research, but there was a study done recently in
Speaker 4: Dan Ellie's book Predictively Irrational, and it actually showed that
Speaker 4: the anchoring effect is so strong that people will pay
Speaker 4: up to fifty percent more for items when they see
Speaker 4: the original inflated price tag. It's so rude, it makes
Speaker 4: me so mad. So before you get too excited about
Speaker 4: seeing a discount, I think it's important to do a
Speaker 4: little bit of detective work that, let's be honest, we
Speaker 4: shouldn't have to do but check the price history online
Speaker 4: or better get see if other stores are offering it cheaper.
Speaker 4: Sometimes the sale isn't that much of a treat. It's
Speaker 4: actually a massive trick, all right. So we've covered two
Speaker 4: tricks that retailers absolutely love to pull on us. But
Speaker 4: trust me, the spookiest of ones is still.
Speaker 2: Lurking right around the corner.
Speaker 4: After the break, I'm going to reveal the trick that
Speaker 4: can get you to spend up to one hundred and fifty.
Speaker 2: Percent more how rude.
Speaker 4: It is frightful, So don't go anywhere unless you want
Speaker 4: your wallet to scream.
Speaker 2: Welcome back, my friends.
Speaker 4: I hope you've been finding my commentary as cringe as
Speaker 4: I have been, but I have been having the best
Speaker 4: time with this.
Speaker 2: So get ready to be haunted by this.
Speaker 4: Next trick because it can have you spending up to
Speaker 4: one hundred and fifty percent more than you planned. And no,
Speaker 4: it's not a ghost emptying your bank account. It's the
Speaker 4: infamous buy one, get one free deal and it's coming
Speaker 4: to trick your wallet right about now. So buy one,
Speaker 4: get one free sounds like an no brainer, right because
Speaker 4: double the goods for the same price. But my friend,
Speaker 4: do you actually need two of those things? This deal
Speaker 4: actually plays on our fear of missing out. It goes
Speaker 4: back to that concept of fomo. If we don't grab
Speaker 4: that extra item, we feel like we're losing something valuable,
Speaker 4: but in reality, you're just buying more stuff that you
Speaker 4: didn't need in the first place.
Speaker 2: Back to being statscal.
Speaker 4: I love to read, and when I was researching this episode,
Speaker 4: I was reading the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services,
Speaker 4: and research in that journal showed that buy one, get
Speaker 4: one free, promotions can increase sales by up to one
Speaker 4: hundred and fifty percent because consumers are tricked into perceiving
Speaker 4: that there is more value in receiving something for free
Speaker 4: than in receiving a discount of equivalent monetary value. So
Speaker 4: here's a quick tip. When it comes to buy one,
Speaker 4: get one free deals, Often they're just a way of
Speaker 4: retailers to actually clear out additional stock. Like, think about it,
Speaker 4: why would you give an additional product for free when
Speaker 4: you technically don't have to. It's probably because they overbought
Speaker 4: that product, or have too much of it in stock,
Speaker 4: or it's going off soon. So before grabbing that free item,
Speaker 4: I want you to think to yourself, would I buy
Speaker 4: two if they weren't bundled together? Or am I just
Speaker 4: helping them clear their shelves and get rid of some stock.
Speaker 4: Retailers are genuinely they're banking on you grabbing items that
Speaker 4: you don't really need. So don't let them cash in
Speaker 4: on that impulse that you are currently having, because they're
Speaker 4: tricking you, all right. Another trick I want to talk
Speaker 4: about is social proof, and this one is I would
Speaker 4: argue one of the most powerful ones ever. Have you
Speaker 4: ever noticed down the bottom of a website, like when
Speaker 4: you're shopping online there's a little pop up that says
Speaker 4: Beck just brought this, or ten people are viewing this
Speaker 4: right now, or maybe you've scrolled through a sea of
Speaker 4: glowing product reviews online and thought, well, everyone loves it
Speaker 4: like this. This is validating the fact that I want it.
Speaker 4: It must be great. I need it too, my friend.
Speaker 4: Welcome to the world of social proof, where retailers are
Speaker 4: using the power of the crowd to get you to
Speaker 4: purchase their products. So, my friend, how does it work
Speaker 4: social proof? It actually taps into our instinct to follow
Speaker 4: the herd. So, whether it's those little pop ups on
Speaker 4: the website that show us that other people are buying
Speaker 4: this or a flood of five star reviews, retailers are
Speaker 4: playing on our fear of missing out again and our
Speaker 4: natural tendency to just trust what other people are doing.
Speaker 4: I mean, if everyone's doing it, it can't be.
Speaker 2: That bad, right.
Speaker 4: They know that we assume that if something is popular,
Speaker 4: it must be worth it. Those best seller tags or
Speaker 4: those tags that say as seen on TikTok, or maybe
Speaker 4: notifications that say Jane in Sydney just bought this, they're
Speaker 4: actually all designed to make us feel like we need
Speaker 4: to join in on the purchasing. So again, research that
Speaker 4: we were doing while making this episode led me to
Speaker 4: a study from bright Local which found that eighty eight
Speaker 4: percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as they
Speaker 4: trust personal recommendations. And I think that that's really dangerous
Speaker 4: because sometimes they're paid, sometimes they aren't disclosed that they
Speaker 4: might even be made up.
Speaker 2: So next time you're.
Speaker 4: Tempted by glowing reviews that you see online, or you're
Speaker 4: seeing a pop up notification, I need you to ask yourself,
Speaker 4: do I actually want this? Or am I just starting
Speaker 4: to fall for the hype because everybody else is doing it.
Speaker 4: Everybody else seems to have it, so it must be good.
Speaker 4: Just because something's popular doesn't mean it's the right fit
Speaker 4: for you. So, my friend, do not let Fomo control
Speaker 4: your spending.
Speaker 2: All right? One last one.
Speaker 4: Before I let you have your Saturday back. My friend's
Speaker 4: free shipping thresholds. We've all been there. The cart it's
Speaker 4: just under the free shipping threshold and they're smart about it, right,
Speaker 4: So you add a few extra items just to hit
Speaker 4: the magical numbers so that you don't have to pay
Speaker 4: like ten or fifteen dollars in shipping. But are those
Speaker 4: extra purchases worth there?
Speaker 2: For real? My friend?
Speaker 4: Are you adding a forty dollars product to your cart
Speaker 4: to save ten dollars?
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 4: Retailers often offer free shipping when you spend a certain amount,
Speaker 4: which often nudges you to add a few more things
Speaker 4: to your cart than originally planned. This then taps into
Speaker 4: your desire to avoid what feels like a penalty like
Speaker 4: I don't want to pay for my shipping, by making
Speaker 4: you overspend on products that you don't actually need just
Speaker 4: so that you can avoid the fee. And it's actually insane,
Speaker 4: and there's so much research that goes into this, right, Like,
Speaker 4: go on your favorite dress website and have a look
Speaker 4: at what the average price of addresses. I can almost
Speaker 4: guarantee that average price is let's call it, like one
Speaker 4: hundred and nineteen dollars. But the sign up the top
Speaker 4: of the website that says spend over one hundred and
Speaker 4: twenty dollars and you get free shipping. I see what
Speaker 4: you're doing there, and so do you now, my friend? Again,
Speaker 4: we were doing some research when putting this episode together,
Speaker 4: and according to a study by Commscore, fifty eight percent
Speaker 4: of online shoppers add additional items to their cart just
Speaker 4: to qualify for free shipping, which means that they are
Speaker 4: often spending more than they would on the shipping itself.
Speaker 4: So before you decide to add a few extra items
Speaker 4: to your carts so that you don't have to pay
Speaker 4: for shipping, what I would do is compare the cost
Speaker 4: of paying for shipping versus buying things.
Speaker 2: That you literally do not need.
Speaker 4: Often paying the small shipping free is a more budget
Speaker 4: friendly option, even though in the moment it feels like
Speaker 4: the wrong decision. All right, I feel like we have
Speaker 4: taken an arguably terrifying tour through some of the spookiest
Speaker 4: tricks that retailers are using to spook your wallet, from
Speaker 4: scarcity tactics, to anchoring, buy one, get one free deals,
Speaker 4: social proof, and even free shipping threshold. But here's the
Speaker 4: real trick to stay safe during sales season. I want
Speaker 4: you to have a plan. I want you to stick
Speaker 4: to it, and as I've said a million times before,
Speaker 4: I sound like a broken record and I am not sorry,
Speaker 4: put twenty four hours between you and your purchase. Maybe
Speaker 4: I'm saying this because I need that advice, And how
Speaker 4: you sometimes tell your friends things that you actually need
Speaker 4: to hear yourself.
Speaker 2: That's me because it.
Speaker 4: Is so easy to be distracted by all of the
Speaker 4: shiny things and feel like you are scoring a win
Speaker 4: when you see a sign that says it's a limited stock,
Speaker 4: or there's free shipping, or this sale ends on Monday.
Speaker 4: But if you don't need it, or it wasn't on
Speaker 4: your shopping list to begin with, my friend, it's not
Speaker 4: a treat. It's just a trick, and it's another way
Speaker 4: if your retailer is to be luring you in. So
Speaker 4: having a budget and knowing exactly what you want before
Speaker 4: you go shopping is going to help you avoid falling
Speaker 4: for these tricks. The other thing I want you to
Speaker 4: do is just take a breather. If you're in this
Speaker 4: situation that I have found myself in a million times,
Speaker 4: where I've got this urge to buy something because it's
Speaker 4: on sale, or I'm feeling really stressed because I don't
Speaker 4: want to miss out. Back to that twenty four hour trick, right,
Speaker 4: put it on your notes app, take a screenshot of it,
Speaker 4: don't forget it. You don't have to forget it at all.
Speaker 4: But if you then still want it tomorrow. It might
Speaker 4: be worth it. If you've already forgotten about it. Oh,
Speaker 4: you've probably dodged a trick. And how many screenshots have
Speaker 4: you taken my friend that you've completely forgotten about. I
Speaker 4: am so guilty of doing that. I always go, oh,
Speaker 4: I'll just screenshot that because I need to save it
Speaker 4: for later. I don't need it later. I've just got fomo.
Speaker 4: I have literally a graveyard of screenshots in my phone.
Speaker 4: So before we wrap things up, if you've been loving
Speaker 4: these episodes and want to stay ahead of the money game,
Speaker 4: don't forget to hit subscribe to She's on the Money.
Speaker 4: We've got heaps more tips coming your way to help
Speaker 4: you navigate sales spending in all things money. Well, I'm
Speaker 4: off to make my Halloween costume because miss jessic Ricci
Speaker 4: is expecting nothing less. I think I'm going to go
Speaker 4: as a gender pay gap because I think that's really scary,
Speaker 4: because what is scarier than women earning twenty two percent
Speaker 4: less than a man for the same job. Anyway, me
Speaker 4: having a little bit of a round about the gender
Speaker 4: pay gap again. Anyway, Wishing you a fantastic weekend, and
Speaker 4: for those of.
Speaker 2: You who do celebrate. Have a spectacular Halloween, my friends.
Speaker 4: The advice shared on She's on the Money is general
Speaker 4: in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's
Speaker 4: on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should
Speaker 4: not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
Speaker 2: If you do choose to buy a financial product.
Speaker 4: Read the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice.
Speaker 2: Tailored towards your needs.
Speaker 4: Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives
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