We all love a great offer- myself included. I am front and centre when I see my favourite items reduced and I must remind myself to check the following areas:

 

• Do I need this item honestly or am I getting caught up on the ‘Black Friday ‘buzz?

 

• What kind of business are you buying from? Is their website GDPR compliant- does it have proper security in place? What about a Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions- can you see where this company is based? Is it based in Ireland or abroad and are their hidden delivery costs?

 

• What is the real value of the item in question? Did you google old prices for this item as it must be listed at the previous price within the last three months.

 

As per the Consumer Association of Ireland guidelines: “There is no legislation to prevent retailers from increasing their prices to take advantage of a special occasion or time of year.  Equally, retailers may decide to reduce prices, but if they do so they must not give misleading or false information about the previous price charged.  Businesses cannot claim that goods have been sold at a higher price and are now on sale for a lower price unless the goods were actually on sale at the higher price for a “reasonable period,” which is generally understood to be 28 days in the three months before the price reduction”.

 

• How useful will this item be to me or my business? In a previous post I advised people to step away from the shiny red baubles that promise to fix all your problems when in fact it could be that you are your greatest problem!

 

• Can you take a trial period for that product and see if it really is worth the full value you would pay for it and then that makes the reduced price a really special offer.

 

• CHECK THE TERMS & CONDITIONS- and yes, I am shouting this at you. Read through the cancellations, refunds, added extras- will this add extra cost to the end product and also check all the vat and delivery charges that may be added on at the end – and you are too caught up in the sale feel good buzz to back away.

 

• Is the offer too good to be true? If it is then maybe question why this is- google the time for reviews and see what people say.

 

• Follow up communication after you purchase– Marketing and being hounded with emails are you purchase an item- just because you buy an item from a company does not mean that you have consented to being added to their marketing list. You need to physically sign up to marketing list in order to receive their follow up emails- if you are getting unsolicited emails after you have purchased an item from a retailer then unsubscribe from their list- you shouldn’t have been added in the first place! If there is no un-subscribe then drop this company an email asking them to take you off whatever list they had added you to- if you are still unsuccessful then you can complain to the data commissioner as this is a data breach- https://forms.dataprotection.ie/breach-notification

 

If you would like any more guidance on your GDPR requirements or concerns please email me on hello@regdpr.com or visit my website https://regdpr.com/

 

Another blog that is worth reading is from Debbie Ringwood from the Marketing Shop- https://themarketingshop.ie/should-you-offer-a-black-friday-deal/

Debbie is one of my trusted resources and her advice is both educational and applicable to your own business