Popped into the Ace in Flagstaff last weekend and noticed their whole clearance aisle was gone

They replaced it with a QR code scavenger hunt for overstock deals... has anyone else seen stores doing this to cut down on markdowns?

3 comments

3 Comments

charlie_ellis3d agoMost Upvoted

Honestly, that sounds more like a hassle than a deal. Tbh, clearance was always about impulse buys and quick savings, not pulling out your phone to hunt down codes in an aisle. Ngl, if I have to work for a discount I'm probably just gonna leave and check Amazon instead.

umathompson3d ago

Heck, they replaced the whole clearance aisle with a QR code game? That's wild. I mean, I get they want to cut down on markdowns, but scanning codes for deals just feels like extra work. Doesn't that kind of defeat the whole "quick grab and go" purpose of clearance?

riley_taylor3d ago

Back in 2019 I read that overstock inventory costs retailers something like 100 billion a year in storage and handling, so this QR code thing is really about dodging those logistics fees more than the actual discount. They probably ran the numbers and figured out that making customers jump through hoops cuts the number of markdowns they have to process by a huge margin. It's a sneaky way to trim their losses without actually advertising lower prices.