[qnleigh]

I think the point is that, on the whole, sales manipulate consumers into spending -more- money than they otherwise would have. Of course this isn't true for every person all the time, but on average I suspect it is; sales are common partly because they actually lead to more revenue, despite the discount.

[crazygringo]

That's not why sales lead to more revenue.

They do because people who can't afford full price will wait to buy on sale. Whereas people who can afford full price will often just buy it when they want it for instant satisfaction.

So they get mostly full price from people who can pay full price, and make it accessible to people who can't afford it at full price.

[MisterSandman]

Citation needed?

Are you saying Amazon does Prime Day so people who previously couldn’t afford an air fryer can now afford one? Are you saying Black Friday is actually a massive charity event by companies so people can buy their products?

I’m pretty sceptical of this whole “make it accessible” logic - I can only imagine very few parts of my life where a discount was actually the only way I could afford something (back when I had limited pocket money). A game going from $80 to $60 doesn’t practically make it any more accessible to most people, it just makes people feel better about their purchase.

[watwut]

I was definitely waiting for sales when I was younger when the games were too expensive for me. And when my earnings went up, I became more willing to buy them full price.

No, I would not buy those games for full price. And not just games. And not just me.

It is the same deal with black Friday sales, with people who buy used stuff etc.

[crazygringo]

There's no "citation", just go work at any business.

And you seem to be misunderstanding. They're not doing it out of charity. They're doing it because if something costs $50, they make more profit selling 20 at $100 and 20 at $70 than they do selling just 20 at $100.

> A game going from $80 to $60 doesn’t practically make it any more accessible to most people

I think you may be out of touch with some people's financial realities. $20 can very much be the difference between buying something and not buying it this month. And people will literally wait half a year to buy something on Black Friday because it's the only way they can afford it.

[Yeul]

With physical goods unsold items literally cost money to the point that sometimes it is cheaper to sell it for a dollar.