Marketers tend to implement deceptive practices that force the customer to believe they gain more profit than usual. Typically, these practices tend to provide misleading but appealing information about the product or service being offered. Even though deception is a commonly used method to attract more clients and increase sales, there are serious economic consequences that affect both traders and consumers. Marketing deceptive strategies are divided into pricing, packaging, and promotion.
The first deceptive strategy is promotion comprises a variety of advertising practices that are aimed towards affecting the decision-making of a client. Such situations occur when some specific features of the product are misinterpreted or mispresented. However, this practice attracts a lot of people who are ready for a bargain, when, in reality, the product is out of stock. Channels such as newspapers, radio, the Internet, TV, catalogs, or shop signs are usually the source of deceptive advertising.
This method is mainly represented through intentional oral, written, or visual misinterpretations that are prone to promising something grand when the product does not correspond to the demonstrated features in real life. For instance, the marketers usually present a product with free delivery included, though it actually involves some charges.
Another practice is called deceptive packaging and implies a row of actions concerned with product-packing, which is supposed to confuse the customers. Frequently, the manufacturers or traders use misleading labels, terms, vague design, wrong size, or fill only half of the package. Deceptive packaging is the method used for some reason. Firstly, the company may incur some rising costs. Therefore, it has to reduce the amount of the product in the package in a way that is not evident to the customer’s eye. Another reason is conditioned by the shape and the size of an item produced. Moreover, the exaggeration of the contents helps the manufacturer make a sales profit.
Deceptive pricing includes a number of practices related to false advertising concerning, for instance, the manufacturer’s sudden price reduction due to the ‘going out of business’ or clearance. Despite these reasons for the price reduction, there are still hidden fees the buyer has to pay. False advertising impacts people’s choice-making in a split second. The decision changes because the customer is assured that they can acquire a product or service at a lower price, whereas in reality, they have to pay as usual.
The deceptive pricing may include bait-and-switch strategies. Therefore, when a buyer intends to buy a product at a lower price presented by the manufacturer, they have to make sure the product is available in the store and of decent quality. Sustainable marketing does not correspond with poor quality, so when the buyer is unhappy with the product purchased, they can spread this information, which is likely to influence the manufacturer’s reputation. This practice’s goal is to pay attention to clients and raise sales.
To sum everything up, it is clear that deceptive promotion, packaging, and pricing are the technologies that mislead the buyer. These practices tend to violate consumers’ rights and trust, which can result in the disruption of profitable business relations. Thus, one deception can make the customer choose a more reliable manufacturer. Marketers assume that the deceptive methods are no longer in the run as they are not sustainable. The implementation of deception in marketing is restricted and, in some instances, leads to financial penalties.