Hunters for promotions and discounts have a keen eye and they know you need to read carefully the fine print of each offer. But not everyone comes across an “unmissable opportunity” are you trained or have the time to take advantage of it without falling into the trap: spending more and This advantage ends up working against savings.
The need to support consumption and the increasingly limited pockets of Argentines has led to the proliferation of promotions –generally a discount in some shops- offered by banks and virtual wallets. With the explosion of this segment, another concept has also consolidated: the reimbursement limit. That kind of purchase limit So many times, will be at a disadvantage of the discount percentage (most promoted).
Patricia, an administrative employee, knows well what it is about. A few days ago, leaving work in Belgrano, he remembered this Friday it had a 50% discount. refueling at the petrol station which is on Cabildo Avenue. He went, filled the tank, paid $40,000 and went home. She immediately forgot about it.
“15 days passed, until I saw that advertisement again which reminded me of the tempting discount on fuel that my bank and an app offer on Fridays. This time time wasn’t passing and then it occurred to me to look at the full promotion. That’s when I realized it a non-minor detail that I had never seen before: I was expecting a $20,000 discount, but that the promotion had a limit of $8,000. AS, The initial promise of receiving 50% of the purchase in my wallet was only 20%“commented Patrizia.
In the buyer’s mistake, there is no right to kick. From the Consumer Defense of the Municipality they explained to Clarion that “it is necessary to always check the conditions of the promotions, if the details are communicated, such as reimbursement limits, days of application, etc., the law is respected. Now, when such information is not provided, either it’s hidden, “We received the complaint there.”
Many percentages sometimes mean little savings. Photo Luciano Thieberger.In these cases, unless the legend appears “no refund limit” (when this is the case, banks make it very big) you have to put it out of focus of the percentage promoted AND put it at that limit.
In practice it would be: if the promotion says so 50% down, with a return of up to $9,000 weekly, the interested party can spend a total of $18,000 on that purchase. If you use all four options in a month, your total expense to take advantage of all the savings should be no more than $72,000. If, for example, you spend more than this amount, you need to take this into account The percentage initially promised will be reduced.
In short, the hard cap, that short four-letter term, is usually not a good ally when consumers are trying to spend their money and need to be very careful.
Banks and wallets use them to regulate user spending. So much so that in April, although inflation had not yet fallen below double digits (it was 11% in March), Repayment limits have not only not increased, they have decreased. Some others too They stopped being weekly and were condensed to once a month.
From the promotions segment of a banking entity to which they explained Clarion that previously the discount percentage was strongly highlighted and the top was hidden, a not entirely fair practice. “Now the customer is made aware of this limit, because subsequently in satisfaction surveys (For example) They let you know if they feel cheated. And the customer forgives you once, twice, no more”, they explain.
In the strategy of that entity they favor “enter a smaller discount with a more attractive repayment limitthat a big discount with a very low refund.” In its portfolio of promotions there are around 150 offers (between interest-free card installments and percentage discounts), of which “10 are those that take 80% of the promos”.
Promotions that are not used but help marketing
In many cases promotions are not used but, according to experts, you have to have them because “the perceived value (how much customers are willing to pay for a product or service based on their appreciation) “he’s very tall” and serves to build loyalty.
From For example, among the promotions of one entity there is one in the high-income segment that provides a 30% discount on hair salons on Fridays and even if “it is practically not used, it must be there,” they explained. In this sense, On average, between 15,000 and 20,000 customers use a promotion per month, that is, between 10 and 15% of the bank’s active portfolio.
But with these actions, in addition to building customer loyalty, they are looking for wallets and banks make your portfolio profitablebecause “the longer people leave their money in an account, the more profitable it becomes for the bank,” they explained.
“These discount programs for digital wallets or bank cards become very attractive in a context of decline in retail sales (12.6% last month, according to CAME) and 19% in massive consumption,” added Damián Di Pace, director of Focus Market Consulting.
For the economic analyst, “banks, in addition to competing with each other, also compete with digital wallets that are trying to attract new adherents, so what we are seeing is that, The higher the discount level, the lower the weekly withdrawal limit.; and at a lower discount level, the limit is higher.”
It also depends on the items and the estimated volume that can be consumed in each activity. For example, a virtual wallet offers 40% to buy in a wholesale supermarket, but the limit is 4,000 per week, which “forces” you to consume a maximum of 10,000 dollars to really take advantage of it, a very low expense considering the type of purchases, what people do at the wholesaler.
A contrasting example: with the same wallet you need to buy construction and household materials in a store. a higher ceiling$10,000, for a discount of less than 25%.
Here because, Access to all these benefits requires prior “study time”. if you don’t want to spend more thinking that you will receive a benefit that, like Patricia, she never received.
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Source: Clarin
