Why the Limited Time Offer?

Have you ever received an email for a limited time offer on a product or service? If you have, you probably saved the email, thinking you would get back to it when you had time, only to find that the offer was no longer valid by the time you clicked on the link or attempted to use the product discount coupon.

You reach in your mailbox and retrieve an envelope full of limited time offer coupons and fliers good for discounts on products, mobile phone offers, and two-for-one entrees at the local restaurants and 50% off deals at an appliance store. Next month you walk into the store and wave your flier at the vendor, only to be told the offer has expired. You are not alone!  

If you find yourself wondering why these offers must expire, keep in mind that the retailer is trying to get you to buy their products or services. Think about the psychological pressure you feel when you walk into a car dealership and find the car of your dreams and the salesman tells you the deal are only good today. Once again, the limited time offer creates the pressure to buy or lose the deal.

Watch TV and pay attention to the limited time offers for mobile phones – two for the price of one good through the end of the month. Zero percent financing for new cars or appliances may be available over a holiday weekend and then the deals will expire.   

No matter what spin the retailer or advertiser puts on the limited time offer, the deals come down to the same thing. If you want the deal, you have to buy now. If the retailer gives you too much time to think about it, you might decide you don’t need the product.  

Your zeal for the deal makes you less rational and that is why retailers use the ploy.