"50% Discount" vs "Buy 1 Free 1"

Everyone know "50% discount" and "Buy 1 Free 1"; however there must some consumers do not realize that basically, "Buy 1 Free 1" = "50% Discount", both mean selling a product or service at 1/2 price. Is it exactly 100% the same? If we try to nitpicking, and study it thoroughly in different angle, there actually a different between "50% Discount" & "Buy 1 Free 1"!

Customer View:

For an example, there are 2 shops having a promotion on a same product, while shop A offers "50% Discount", shop B offers "Buy 1 Free 1". Which shop will you most likely to visit? (assume that in normal days, shop A & B selling the product at the same price, RM100).

1. If once you had 1 unit, you will never need 2nd unit; or no one around you need it...you must go for "50% Discount", so that you can save RM50. "Buy 1 Free 1" causes you spend RM50 on an unwanted 2nd unit, in other words, RM50+1 unit of product gone wasted! So how much you loss in this purchasing? I'm not sure too......^ ^

2. If you alone may need more than 1 unit, or people around you might need it too, either "50% Discount" or "Buy 1 Free 1" is a right choice. But make sure the quantity you needed is in "plural" not "singular"!

Businessman View:

1. "50% Discount" can for any product or service; while "Buy 1 Free 1" for limited product & service. For an example, it is so innocent & irrational to offer "Buy 1 Free 1" on a product like the coffin......
2. If majority customers may need a product more than 1 unit, offer of "Buy 1 Free 1" is better idea than "50% Discount". Let say during the promotion period, there are 100 customers come to buy the product A.

Under "50% Discount", some may buy 1, some may buy > 1 (assume that they buy either 1 or 2 units), means during the promotion period, the shopkeeper able to sell out 100-200 units of product A.

Under "Buy 1 Free 1", each customer is forced to buy minimum 2 units of product A. Minimum 200 units of product A to be sold is guarantied. Of course, in normal practice, it may not exactly follow the rules mentioned above.

Juggle With The Numbers & Words

Many people very alert or sensitive to the word "Sale", "Discount" or "Promotion" which advertised or displayed by the dealers. But not many people really study the meaning of the numbers & words used by the dealers, they even some time get confused with those numbers & words.

50%+20% Discount

Some consumers may thought that it is 70% off while it is NOT. 50%+20% off here means 50% off on top of 20% off, in other words, the dealer offers you another 20% off after a 50% off on the normal rate, which overall is just 60%! By knowing this, you won't get over surprised or excited when you noticed a 50%+50% discount offered, which it is actually 75% off instead of FOC (free of charge)......

Buy 2 Free 1

Some time I also get confused with the "Buy 2 Free 1" promotion. Base on my understanding, it should be if I buy 2 units of a product (e.g RM50/unit), I can get another unit for FOC, meant at the end I can bring back 3 units at RM100. But some dealers seem have different interpretation on the "Buy 2 Free 1", I have experienced it before. He told me that it means if I buy 2 units of a product (e.g RM50/unit), the 2nd unit will be free, mean at the end I can bring back 2 units at RM50......Is it correct? Isn't it seem like "Buy 1 Free 1"? Whatever, the normal practice is that "ask before you buy"!

......To Continue......

1 + 1 = ?

种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆
Plant melons and you get melons, sow beans and you get beans

The efforts made determines the achievement we will gain. In my opinion, it shows that we have indirectly agreed that 1 + 1 = 2 if we doing thing(s) accordance to the above theory. Generally, it is indeed true that if we do A, we will get A as a result.

有得必有失
Gain and Loss are coexistant

However, we can't deny that some time we do A, we get B instead of A. In this case, although we didn't get the expected result by doing A, we gained something as a return or replacement. Due to the effort made is not totally wasted, we still can consider the outcome as 1 + 1 = 2.

费时费事，得不偿失
Not Be Worth The Effort

In other cases, one may gain nothing by doing A. When this occured, no more 1 + 1 = 2, but 1 + 1 < least =" 2." style="text-align: justify;">

一石二鸟，一箭双雕
Kill Two Birds With One Stone

If we are smart enough, and always think & analyse things bilaterally, we can actually create a situation by which we able to achieve more than 1 goal with equal amount of effort. This means that by doing A, we not only get A, but also get B, or / and C or more. In this case, 1 + 1 > 2. In my opinion, the "Win-Win Situation" is a good example of 1 + 1 > 2.