Buy one, get one free

"Buy one, get one free", or "Buy one, get one" is a common form of sales promotion. While rarely presented to customers in acronym form, this marketing technique is universally known in the marketing industry by the acronym BOGOF, and it is regarded as one of the most effective forms of special offers for goods.

It is a special case of "buy one, get one (with a discount)", also known as BOGO. It is common to see offers such as "buy one, get a second one for 50% off". These offers are usually marked as "BOGO 75% off", "BOGO half off", etc. The effective price per unit is a discount of half the discount on the second item. The ability to display a larger discount number on an item, e.g. 50% on a second item versus 25% on a single item, may be beneficial for the promotion.

Technique

Originally, "buy one get one free" was a sudden end-of-season or stock clearance method used by shops who were left with a large quantity of stock that they were looking to sell quickly. More recently it has become a popular, planned and considered marketing method.

Economist Alex Tabarrok has argued that the success of this promotion lies in the fact that the price actually takes into account the fact that two items are being sold. The price of "one" is somewhat nominal and is typically raised when used as part of a buy one get one free deal. Whilst the cost per item is proportionately cheaper than if bought on its own, it is not actually half price.

Buy one get one free is a popular sales technique because it can be used legally at any time, unlike many other offers. For example a shop cannot claim an item is "on sale" or is discounted unless it has been available for sale at the previous, higher price for a certain period of time.

External links

• Cambridge Online Dictionary, Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
• Video tutorial showing how to enter a Bogof into a Cash register
• What is BOGO

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