Reading: Special Offers

Read the text and mark the sentences TRUE or FALSE.

In times of economic crises, consumers are ever more discerning about how they spend their money. Keeping a tight grip on their wallets, they look for top-quality products and value for money, often expecting additional incentives to lay out some cash.

There is a plethora of marketing strategies aimed at attracting customers’ attention to a given product, including promotional campaigns, product placement, celebrity endorsement and special offers.
Special offers can be divided into two types. The first type involves offering a product or service at a bargain price for a limited period of time. It can take the form of coupons, rebates or promotional codes. We have all seen it. Airlines offer last-minute deals allowing passengers to save up to 99% on airfare, coupons can be earned by sending a promotional email to a friend, and supermarkets swarm with discounts during the holiday shopping season.

The second type of special offers involves buying a product or service at a regular price and being offered another product or service at a significantly reduced price. “Buy one get one free” (BOGOF) deals, an extra night in a hotel for patrons, or a toothbrush offered at half the usual price with a bottle of mouthwash are a perfect example of this strategy.

Special offers may be a powerful and potent weapon in the arsenal of marketing people, however, if used indiscriminately, they can cause substantial damage to a brand or result in financial loss.