Who to buy and who to avoid
Whether you’re shopping for your weekly groceries or shopping for a business, there are a few golden rules that never change. These rules are the same now as they always were, and always will be…
1. Ideally, only buy based on your personal experience or through a recommendation from a trusted source
2. Avoid highly promoted products. The product will include promotional expenses
3. Don’t buy from a seller who wears designer clothes and drives an expensive car. You’re paying for all this plus their Caribbean cruises
4. Don’t buy from a seller who looks like he’s going broke. There may be something wrong with your company’s products.
5. If you want the best and most original products, try to find the next big thing before it’s big.
6. However, never buy the latest gadget. It will be expensive and you may become an unwitting guinea pig with a beta product for which nothing will be supported.
7. Never, ever buy from companies that make you wait on the phone and treat their customers like cattle. Your product will probably be cheap, but if you are treated with contempt before you buy, just wait until you become a customer…
8. The measure of the value of a product or service is low price x high quality. Poor quality can be expensive in the long run. An overly specified product or service can result in you paying above the odds. For what it’s worth, I generally avoid the cheapest and the most expensive.
9. Remember that nothing is free. If you need to buy a product IN to have product B. free, then product IN it was too expensive in the first place
10. Avoid complicated pricing structures. They are usually complicated for a reason.
11. Try to shop as close to the point of production as possible. The more intermediaries there are in a chain, the more layers of costs are added each time
12. Try not to buy low toughness. If the seller tells you that you will save xxxx amount if you buy before a certain time, at least ask why. There may be a good reason and you just might get a real bargain. If you get the impression that an arbitrary time limit has been set, walk away
Here are some details:
Fashion:
1. Fashion is a lot like food. It is extremely perishable. Buy small lots often
2. Be prepared to change your product source frequently. keep things fresh
3. Don’t follow the crowd. You’re too late
Meal:
1. Food looks a lot like fashion. It often looks good, but it’s not very functional. Avoid plastic foods. Food that looks perfect can taste bland. As an example, blemish-free apples that have a thick, highly waxed skin may look better than they taste.
2. Shop with all your senses. Heavily packaged foods won’t let you
evaluate it correctly
Remember that salespeople and marketers want you to dance to their beat. Buy this product before this date and get this cheaper one. Join this scheme or that scheme. Choose plan X, Y or Z. You have to try to regain the initiative. Why not put your own plan A, B or C to the seller? I’ll buy it if this is free. I will buy more if the price is lower.
It is true that the lower your purchasing power, the less leverage you have. But you have Some power, whatever your budget. Remember that you have the money the seller wants. They have the goods that you can buy. In an ideal world there should be an approximate equality between these two forces. From the buyer’s point of view, of course, the more power you have, the more control you can exercise. If you feel that the balance is not in your favor, look
from another source.