how do they do that ?

[venta]

I've just been to Savers, a discount chemist. I bought myself some hair dye and some face cream and, because I'm anal like that, wandered into Boots to compare prices.

Boots doesn't stock the hairdye I bought, but their own-brand is £2.69, and I paid £2.49 for Schwarzkopf stuff.

The face cream I bought is £2.99 in Savers. In Boots it's under a large red poster saying "Lower prices you'll love", and costs £4.69.

Yes, I know this is a really dull post. But how the hell does Boots get away with it ? I know some people don't care much about saving a few pence here and there, but... 50% ?

Comments

[wimble.livejournal.com]

What colour? (he asks, with trepidation)

[leathellin.livejournal.com]

A very good marketing department.
They haven't entirely got away with it. They lost a lot of money when the supermarkets were also allowed to open pharmacies and their venture into the services market (aromatherpay, beauty stuff, massages) was deemed a failure and closed after a year or so.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Marakech.
Apparently.

Well, if they're going to make hairdye named after a New Model Army song, I have to, don't I ?

(The more useful answer is "darkish red". Which won narrowly over virulent purple.)

[condign.livejournal.com]

No, you don't. But send pictures. :)

Basically, stores like Savers don't make much of a profit, but have a narrower range of stuff. Good marketing and the possibility of a wider range of newer stuff allow everything else to be marked up.

Marrakesh?

[ao-lai.livejournal.com]

Marakech? I thought that was a place...

Re: Marrakesh?

[venta.livejournal.com]

It is a place, in Africa. The name seems to get written different ways in English.

[floralaetifica.livejournal.com]

I always use Boots for all such things. I didn't even have any idea there were places cheaper.

[venta.livejournal.com]

You never heard of Superdrug ?

Even though you were a student (=skint :) in a town which had one ? *boggle*

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

It's all about branding I guess. The boots brand is well known and respected - so people assume they will get a good deal when they shop there and don't look any further.

[floralaetifica.livejournal.com]

I always thought they looked cheap and nasty. When I was a student they were brand new and distinctly mickey mouse.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I always thought they looked cheap

and

I didn't even have any idea there were places cheaper.

:)

Yeah, they're not a plushy as Boots. Depends what you're buying, I suppose.

They're not that nasty - I only ever go to Boots for shampoo, as they one I currently like it exclusive to them. Everything else comes from Superdrug, and I'd actually recommend some of their own brand stuff quite highly.

[floralaetifica.livejournal.com]

I always thought they looked cheap
and
I didn't even have any idea there were places cheaper.

:p You know what I mean. There are two different sense of cheap.

I don't think they're mickey mouse any more. When I was going through my major glitter phase, they were my vendors of choice - a much better sparkly range than Boots. But it hadn't occurred to me they would be any cheaper than Boots for other things.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Well the reason I ever shop at Boots is that I worked there and can predict when there will be a free condoms offer (which are roughly the same price for the non-free pack(s) everywhere). Or if I have a lot of advantage points from all those condoms. Everything else they sell is either cheaper elsewhere, comes in non-recyclable bottles, or has additives in it to make me fall over.

Boots

[(Anonymous)]

Of course Savers is OK, it was started in your home town. It's up to £5+ cheaper than Boots on Olay total body lotion (used by wrinklies).

[cuthbertcross.livejournal.com]

Boots isn't the cheapest place, but it's one of many pharmacists that it's important to support. The most important is your little corner shop chemist, who the government is happy to screw over by letting the supermarkets cut-price painkillers etc. Yes they're cheaper *now*, but when all the pharmacies go bust do you really think they'll stay cheap??
More to the point, a good pharmacy will order things for you if they don't stock them, whereas Boots won't (unless you want to buy, for example, 500 paskets of alum). In their defence they do sell homebrewing stuff still.
I thought the main thing about Savers was that it only does toiletries and unrestricted medicined; ie no prescription only. Superdrug is a fine shop, and does the job without being flashy.

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

"Yes they're cheaper *now*, but when all the pharmacies go bust do you really think they'll stay cheap??"

Yep, because all the supermarkets compete against each other.

I could point to the example of supermarkets that now sell petrol and supermakets that sell home'n'wear clothing.

In neither case has the sky fallen or prices risen.

The current situation is a cosy little monopoly that has kept prices high is especially unfortunate for the older generation who are more likely to need the products and more likely to be on a restricted income.

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

Furthermore, short of a monopoly of Post Office proportions there is no way anyone could sell generic painkillers that aren't cheap. If you're physically capable of swallowing a chalk tablet, it's a buyer's market.