This is the second lesson in the Smart Consumer Skills Guide for Brilliant Kids series. In the last lesson we talked about a businesses job is to make money from you.

Business is not there to help and assist with daily life – that is your job – they merely provide you the products, tools and knowledge to do that. Because they want profit, this can work in your favour. So how can you use this to your advantage?

You can do this by comparing the offers by different companies for the same product or service. Make them truly compete against each other – play them off against each other, and see which is more motivated to make the sale, and in the process give you a saving. A business that is motivated to make the sale is also more likely to provide a better customer or after sales service.

If they are switched on enough to make an effort to get your custom, then they are going to try to keep it, as they will realise that the value of a loyal customer is far greater. A good impression increases the chances of future sales – “better the devil you know, than the one you don’t”.

So what are the strategies can you use to help you do this?

Online

• Google or Yahoo search – compare 2 or 3 sites and you will get a good feel for the price
• Price comparison sites – always a good place to start from. I would try a couple to get a good indication. Whilst they are good, you can still get products cheaper outside, as these sites rely on online retailers – if a business is offline, it won’t appear in their search results. And not all online retailers will appear on these sites either – only those who run affiliate programs – that is, they are willing to pay the comparison site a commission for each click or sale. This is how these sites are funded and make money.
• Ebay – you can get a whole load of items cheap here, but look make sure you check the sellers statistics – how long have they been on Ebay, how many items have they sold, what feedback have they had, what payment methods are they using – stick to paypal, as any other method requires you part with your money upfront, do they give any guarantees or do they have a returns policy. Many powersellers are effectively retailers who use the Ebay model.
• Amazon – Amazon now offer other retailers to promote their produces on the Amazon site. 

Offline

• Check the local papers for who has offers and sales – show these to other retailers to see if they will at least match the discounted price.
• Word of mouth – who do your friends and relatives recommend and why. Do they know the business owner sufficiently well to get you a discount.
• Shop at the end of the day. The end of day strategy is really good for perishables and foodstuffs – especially at market stalls where they will sell at a large discount, rather than throw away the fruit or vegetables. At supermarkets, look out for marked down items which have reached their “best by” or “display until” date. These items are still good to eat, and have not spoiled. These dates are telling us that the item will retain it’s best and freshest quality until the date displayed. The difference in quality is very small and not noticeable. The nutritional value does also is affected similarly. The price might be up to 80% less, for a small 5% drop in quality.
• Shop at end of season if the item is seasonal or coming to the end of the product range’s life. This strategy works really well, provided you are not going to need to keep going back for more items, and you can pick some superb quality products at deeply discounted prices. For Example, retailers will stock up for the winter 3 – 4 beforehand, and will clear their summer ranges during August and September – a good time for bargain hunting. The winter stock is usually sold off in January.

Apply these strategies, talk about them, teach your kids, and get them involved in this process as a fun exciting exercise and they will pick up these smart habits.

In our next lesson, we will talk about the tricks and strategies companies and retailers use to persuade you to buy from them.

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