If you never knew your old stuff could be useful, think again. Odakyu department store recently had a promotion whereby customers could bring their old ladies shoes and trade in for a 1,050 yen coupon. The coupon can be used for customers to purchase new items. The department store had initially decided to hand out 20,000 coupons, but ended up giving out more than 150,000 of such coupons!

First such sales started in April 8-21 2009. Because of the huge succession of the first trade-in campaign, Odakyu decided to have another promotion from April 22-May 6 2009. The second promotion also had a wider range of products accepted for trade-in, for example: mens’ shoes. Also, there was a maximum of 5 items allowed per customer. Coupon redemption also had expiration dates. Coupon usage was limited to products priced over 8,400 yen.

Competitors Seibu and Sogo decided to follow suit, with their own trade-in promotion for women’s shoes and handbags from May 1-6. Leading supermarket Daiei also had a special trade-in sale, focusing only on clothes, in mid-April. A common business strategy among electrical appliance stores, other types of retail stores are now adopting the “trade-in” sale as well.

One may ask: Do shops really earn even though they are giving away 1,050 yen coupon for every item that is traded in?

In department stores, shoes and bags can still yield profits even at a discount of 20% to 30%. One coupon used to purchase a product costing over 8,400 yen is the same as a 12.5% discount, which means that the department store can still make a profit from the sales, so no losses are incurred.

With the bad economy now, having such promotions will really boost shop sales. Are you a victim of spending when you see the word “sales” or “promotion”? I think I used to be one too, but I am kinda controlling my expenses these days. ^_^

Source: JapanToday