To Be A Rational Consumer做理性的消费者

To Be A Rational Consumer

Nowadays there are thousands of sales promotion which attract consumers to empty their purses. Faced with these temptations,we`d better keep calm and choose the items rationally.To be a rational consumer is not an easy thing. Then what is rational consumption? According to the theory of psychologists, rational consumption is a purchasing activity in which consumers rationally choose goods which are high-quality and long lasting based on their own sense and knowledge. In order to be a rational consumer, we should first know the truth behind such promotion as discounts, coupons and Group-buy deals.

Discounts and coupons are actually a kind of “Price Discrimination” that will impel consumers to buy the goods on impulse. Price Discrimination refers to the promotional strategy that the seller charges different consumers for different prices,which will improve sales volume of the seller. For instance, on normal days, an item of high-grade woolen overcoat is charged for 1899RMB in the supermarket. It is so high that common people prefer not to take that home. However, on festival day, such as Valentine`s Day, Christmas Day, and Thanksgiving Day etc., the sellers in supermarket will put up posts or set up boards on which these word are written: ON SALES, A DISCOUNT OF 60%(or even 50%). In such case, common purchasers can afford the high-grade woolen overcoat that they have dreamed to have for a long time at a favorable price.In this

way, the sellers increase the amount of items that are sold, which will definitely “compensate” for the price they “lost” because of the discount. Besides, there is one thing that has to be mentioned: the seller makes the original sales price of one item much higher than the cost price,and the sales price after a discount is still higher than the cost price though there is a discount, enabling the sellers get high profits extremely easily. Let`s take the woolen overcoat sold for 1899RMB for example. The cost price of the woolen overcoat could be 600-749RMB, and with a discount of 50%,the sales price now could be 949.5RMB, which means the sellers could get a profit of 200.5-349.5RMB. If a consumer buys this overcoat, he or she actually doesn`t save that much money because the seller is always the last winner. And the coupons are the same thing as the discounts. The coupons and discounts are just a kind of promotional strategy,and if consumers can`t see the truth behind it, they will certainly be caught by the trap of price.

Group-buy is another kind of promotional strategy which is full of risks for average consumers. Almost everyone prefer goods that are cheap, high-quality and permanent. Nevertheless, the quality and after-sale service of goods are not always pleasant for consumers though these goods are quite cheap. For example, Mrs.Li has complained to one Group-buy Net for the defective wooden door she has bought from the Net. However, she didn`t get any effective response because when she