Smart Shopping
How to Spot Fake Deals During Seasonal Sales
Use historical pricing and unit-value checks to avoid inflated promotional pricing.
Track historical price ranges for key products
Seasonal sales events—Black Friday, back-to-school, Easter promotions—generate urgency that retailers exploit. The most common tactic is to inflate the reference price in the weeks before a sale so that the discount percentage looks impressive. A product normally priced at eight euros might be quietly raised to ten euros three weeks before the event, then advertised as twenty percent off at eight euros during the sale. The discount is real on paper but fictional in practice. To defend against this, maintain a simple note of normal prices for products you buy regularly. Even a quick note on your phone suffices. When a seasonal promotion appears, compare the sale price to your recorded normal price. If the sale price merely matches or barely beats the normal price, it is not a genuine deal and should not change your buying plan.Check for package size changes and hidden shrinkflation
Another common seasonal trick is shrinkflation timed to coincide with promotions. The manufacturer reduces the package size—from 500 grams to 450 grams, for example—while the shelf price drops slightly or stays the same. The promotional label highlights a price reduction, but the unit price has actually increased. During seasonal sales, always check the weight or volume on the package against what you remember or have recorded. If the package looks smaller, it probably is. Compare the current unit price to your benchmark. Retailers are not required to make shrinkflation obvious, so the responsibility falls on you. A quick glance at the unit price label on the shelf or a mental calculation protects you from celebrating a discount that is actually a price increase in disguise.Prioritise planned purchases and ignore impulse bait
Seasonal sales are designed to make you buy things you did not plan to buy. End-cap displays, limited-time labels, and doorbuster offers all create psychological pressure to act now. The most effective defence is a simple rule: only act on seasonal offers for items already on your shopping list. Before the sale begins, review your planned purchases for the next month. Note which items you genuinely need and what price would represent real value based on your benchmarks. During the sale, buy only those items at or below your target price. Ignore everything else, no matter how compelling the discount appears. This approach captures the genuine value that seasonal sales occasionally offer while filtering out the noise that leads to impulsive, regrettable spending.Continue in your Voucher Dashboard.