BAGGED A BARGAIN?

As soon as the festivity of Christmas has died down there’s one place everyone wants to visit – The high street and for what reason? The sales of course! It’s a no brainier for many, and so on boxing day (or somewhere close enough to that date) many of us venture out to the shops. Undeniably we all love a bargain, which is why I found myself confidently prepared to score one at one of the many high street sales.

   With ‘HALF PRICE’, ‘EVERYTHING MUST GO’, ‘SALE NOW’ signs almost everywhere I turned, not to mention a mass of people hurdling towards me, I entered my first shop. After taking in my surroundings of excessive racks of clothes and crowds of frantic people grabbing whatever they could, I realized I needed a game plan – find clothes, get out alive. Extreme this may be and for those of you that have watched ‘Confessions Of A Shopaholic’ you may be able to recall this scene:

Rebecca Bloomwood, an extreme shopaholic, has found herself at a sale, (much like the one that I found myself in) and in the process has fallen in love with some Gucci boots. To add to the moment of glee the boots are in the sale section. Without getting too carried away with the particulars of the film, shopaholic Rebecca gets into a fight over these stylish boots with another woman on the hunt to a bargain. Of course this is a dramatized version of the average high street sale and Gucci boots, discounted or not, are not what many of us class as ‘affordable fashion’. But much like Rebecca, we fashion crazed people can relate to the moment of happiness when we find fashion at a bargain. However, as I strategically yet effectively scanned the clothing racks, to my disappointment I found not one item of clothing to suit the current season. The racks of clothes seemed to be stuffed with last seasons Summer collection; floral skirts, dresses and brightly coloured items. This may be brilliant for those of us stocking up for the upcoming year of 2013 but for me, buying two season old clothes was not my definition of a bargain.

  Slightly disheartened I left the shop, no bags with newly bought clothes in and most of all no bargain. After visiting another handful of shops I realized that there was a pattern developing, on each of the racks, in each of the shops seemed reject items from previous seasons. If it had been any other day I would have snapped up these items with enthusiasm because they were ‘half price’ or ‘a bargain’. And so, I decided to write this blog piece to raise the question – ‘What is a bargain?’.

Some common answers of what ‘a bargain’ should is include;

‘Negotiating the terms and conditions of a purchase’

          ‘negotiation in which the buyer and seller of an item disputes the price to be paid’

     ‘A purchase at a discount’                        

Many of us will agree with the general idea that a bargain is a discounted value from its original. But not all of us will admit to buying the bargain just for the sake of it -(intentionally or unintentionally). Sales can be a friend or a foe, it’s really your decision. Buying with strategy and buying with purpose are elements shoppers should take into account. With the retail stores desperately trying to sell unwanted items a mass of sales erupt. Excited and keen customers flock to the sales with their money with the intention of buying. But is what you are buying a bargain? ‘Of course! It’s a sale!’ some of you may be saying, however, just because it’s a sale doesn’t mean that your item is a bargain. Do you really need your newly brought item? Even more so if your bargain is a reject item of the summer of 2012 (at the latest)! A bargain should be something that you need, expressively love and faithfully wear for many seasons (perhaps years) to come.

  To conclude sales can hold more than just the ‘cast-off’ items, a good sale can contain glorious bargains and purchases that will have you smiling into the New Year - Just be wary that you’re not just buying for the sake of ‘bagging a bargain’.