Leap Day Discounting Frenzy Takes On Look of CE Fire Sale
Enterprising retailers took advantage of the extra day in February to hawk CE goods at bargain-bin prices, Consumer Electronics Daily found Tuesday. Hhgregg sent out an email Tuesday night to subscribers announcing, “You will Leap for Savings tonight at 9 p.m.” in its 12-hour online sale. Online shoppers using a promo code received 10 percent off already appealing prices.
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Some of the best finds were in high-end 3D TVs, priced as much as four figures below list as the retailer looked to clear shelves ahead of 2012 arrivals. Larger 55-inch 3D TVs were particularly attractive in price, we found, led by the Samsung UN55D8000, slashed by $1,100 to $2,399, and the UN55D7000, dropped $900 to $2,199. The Sony 55-inch KDL-55EX720 was chopped by $800 to $1,598, just as the company began detailing a unilateral pricing policy on 2012 and some holdover 2011 models (CED Feb 29 p10). Hhgregg discounted LG’s 55-inch LW5600 from $2,399 to $1,599 and Sharp’s 60-inch LC60LE835U 3D TV was sliced $600 to $2,199.
Sony’s stricter enforcement of minimum advertised price policies was evident at the Abt Electronics shopping site, although the retailer did its best to reel customers in with a tasty price. Abt’s Leap Day sale included a slate of Sony TVs, including the Sony XBR-55HX929, KDL-55EX720 and KDL-55NX720, all of which required consumers to place the TVs in the shopping cart before revealing the price. But where in the past simply placing the product in the cart revealed a price, consumers now had to go through a multi-step process to find their cost. A message from Abt explained why: “Some manufacturers set minimums on prices that may be shown online. Abt wants to offer you a better price than the manufacturer minimum so our only option is to hide the price."
To be able to view prices, Abt instructed shoppers to log in to their Abt account and click the “begin checkout” button to find the price. Another option was to create an account or enter shipping information “right before entering your credit card information” to see the price in the cart. “You won’t ever have to purchase the product if you don’t want it,” according to the website, adding, “You can also call, email or chat with us to get the sale price.” We chose the latter option and were told during a live chat that the KDL-55EX720 was marked down from $2,399 to $1,498 and the KDL-55NX720 was discounted from $2,899 to $1,549. We declined when asked if we wanted to buy and were then offered an additional $58 off the price if we purchased in the next few hours. The eager sales rep left a phone number and an extension.
Specialty AV dealer Gramophone, Timonium, Md., held a Leap Day sale, giving its Facebook customers the option to choose their own offer by “leaping up” to an upgrade product at the entry level model’s price. Deals included Sennheiser SR 80i headphones at the $79 SR60i price, $100 off Audioengine A5 multimedia speakers, $250 off Golden Ear Triton III loudspeakers and a free $119 iPod dock with the purchase of two zones of Sonos wireless audio. Consumers could also choose a BDP-S580 Blu-ray player at the model BDPS480 price of $179, but Sony’s pricing policy left its mark there, too. Only the model numbers appeared in the Facebook promotion, not the Sony brand.
Verizon Wireless took $100 off the price of select 4G LTE smartphones and tablets for Leap Day. With a 2-year contract, consumers could get a 32GB Motorola Razr for $149, a Motorola 64GB Xyboard for $629, an HTC Rezound for $99 and a Samsung Galaxy Nexus for $199. The Samsung Stratosphere and Motorola 16GB Bionic smartphones came free with 2-year contract, according to the website.