So you’re walking down the boardwalk on the sunniest afternoon in July and you suddenly get a craving for ice cream. You casually walk down the street and notice two seemingly similar ice cream shops located side by side. One of the ice cream shops has a massive line, while the other merely has a few people standing out front. By the huge crowd gathered out front of the first ice cream store, it seems pretty obvious that there must be something phenominal about their ice cream; the price must be way lower, the quality of the ice cream must be way better, or the service in the shop must be outstanding right?
That’s what most people would think, that’s what they most likely want you to think in fact, but the real reason why the first ice cream shop has such a higher demand all comes from the advertising being done outside the store. From the street, while both ice cream shops have huge posters with pictures of ice cream cones, and massive signs with their 60 flavours, the first store has another sign, and it’s this sign that makes the difference. That last sign that they have that pushes their product up and over the other ice cream shops product is simple, and it reads,“Buy one, get one free”.Without even thinking consumers line up at this shop, because they automatically feel as though they are getting a better deal and more value for their money. Hey, all they have to do is buy one ice cream cone and they get another one entirely free, no questions asked! The consumers at the first ice cream shop, who have been waiting in line now for 35 minutes are waiting to buy one $4 ice cream cone… buy hey, then they get one free. What they don’t realize is that if they were to walk right next door, to the store with absolutely no line, they could buy one ice cream cone for $2. So here’s where I’m going to let you do the math. It probably didn’t take you long to realize that 1 ice cream cone for $4, plus the one for free works out to be $2 per cone, while at the second store they’re simply priced at $2 a cone… the prices are the exact same. However people line up for ages at the “buy one get one free” ice cream shop, because based off of a strategically priced product and advertising campaign, they have practically tricked consumers into thinking they are getting a better deal.
Personally, I think it’s incredible that consumers can’t figure this out, and it’s working incredibly in the favour of the first ice cream shop. They have discovered a method to make it look like they are giving the same product to their customers for a greater benefit than their competitors, however they are actually giving them the exact same value, but forcing them to wait twice as long to get it.