I generally agree (especially for startups and other less established / unfamiliar-to-the-user vendors).
That being said, I've seen at least two companies cleverly use the visible coupon code field: Lenovo and Dell. They use it to establish at least 3 tiers of pricing:
1. People who don't use the coupon code at all anyway and get the standard "sale"
2. People who Google for a code and find a 5-10% coupon
3. People who get a better coupon through "less public" means (e.g. newsletter, limited-use coupon, etc.)
On top of that, I suspect Lenovo and Dell have their standard "sales" because they want higher "list" prices that make the corporate volume purchasing discounts look better.
Comments
I generally agree (especially for startups and other less established / unfamiliar-to-the-user vendors).
That being said, I've seen at least two companies cleverly use the visible coupon code field: Lenovo and Dell. They use it to establish at least 3 tiers of pricing:
1. People who don't use the coupon code at all anyway and get the standard "sale" 2. People who Google for a code and find a 5-10% coupon 3. People who get a better coupon through "less public" means (e.g. newsletter, limited-use coupon, etc.)
On top of that, I suspect Lenovo and Dell have their standard "sales" because they want higher "list" prices that make the corporate volume purchasing discounts look better.
4. People who buy Apple because they get pissed at Lenovo/Dell's bullshit pricing games and horribly broken webstore pages.