December 9, 2025
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Are Holiday Promotions Often Misleading (Or Worse)?
A new survey suggests 84% of consumers find that holiday promotions feel misleading or unclear at least some of the time, and only 32% feel confident that promotions offer real savings.
The survey of 1,051 U.S. consumers from Relex Solutions, a provider of supply chain and retail planning solutions, found:
- 65% say promotions feel dishonest when the original price isn’t shown.
- 58% feel misled when items aren’t actually available at the promoted price.
- 53% say unclear terms make deals confusing rather than compelling.
- 60% believe brands repeat the same deals over and over.
The survey found that when consumers lose trust in a retailer’s promotions, 45% reduce or stop shopping, 29% shop there less often, 28% avoid promoted items altogether, and 27% switch to another retailer.
Relex Solutions said the survey findings highlight the importance of having reliable inventory stocks and transparent pricing.
“Marketing teams can design compelling campaigns, but if supply chains can’t deliver inventory or pricing systems can’t clearly communicate savings, the promotion becomes a trust-breaking moment instead of a sales driver,” said Thom Iddon-Escalante, director of presales pricing and promotions for Relex Solutions.
Research from CI&T, a technology consulting firm, finds online banner ads often promise a flat discount across their site, but then individual products feature different numbers.
“Our data shows that time and time again, the No. 1 thing consumers want out of a retail experience is to be able to find what they’re looking for right away and at the best price,” Melissa Minkow, global director of retail strategy and insights at CI&T — and a RetailWire BrainTrust panelist — told CX Dive. “So if you’re making them jump through hoops for either or both of those things, it’s not good.”
Analysts Examine Potentially Misleading Retail Sale or Promotion Pricing Practices
The Washington Post’s Geoffrey A. Fowler compared the prices of 50 items he previously purchased on Amazon (like toys, printer toner, clothes, etc.) in the six months leading up to Prime Big Deal Days in October with their prices during the sale on Oct. 8. He found that if he had waited to buy those items during Prime Big Deal Days, he would have saved just 0.6%. Some items were even more expensive during the sale.
Researchers from Consumers’ Checkbook, a nonprofit consumer research organization, spent six months tracking prices at 25 major retailers. They found that the posted “regular” or “list” prices on hang tags are “rarely, if ever, what customers actually pay.”
Of the 25 retailers, 12 listed half of their items on sale for nearly 25 weeks straight.
Consumers’ Checkbook wrote, “Stores run those special-but-not-really-special discounts, holiday sales, and red-dot-spring/summer/whatever-event prices to manipulate you into buying items right away for fear that prices will soon go up. These fake sales also might dissuade you from shopping around for a better deal.”
BrainTrust
Ananda Chakravarty
Vice President, Research at IDC
Georganne Bender
Principal, KIZER & BENDER Speaking
Jeff Sward
Founding Partner, Merchandising Metrics
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Do you agree that many holiday promotions are misleading or outright fake?
Do you see some of the promotional practices as fair play but others crossing the line? Can you give any examples?
Poll
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Consumers need to be very careful in terms of sales, as price reductions may not be all that they seem. Retailers use a lot of psychology in discounting, and many try to present sale prices as representing the best possible deal – but this isn’t always the case. The consumer should always ask whether, for them, the price represents good value for money. Some retailers, like Amazon, now have tools that allow you to see the historic price – so consumers can check how good deals are.
I’m in favor of “fair pricing” I don’t believe the “original price, usual selling price, msrp or any of the other names Retailers use to show just how big and wonderful their promos and discounts are. Trouble is – what’s fair. I think Neil is onto something that showing historical prices makes a better benchmark.
…and what is real in “original price”?
Yes — I do agree that some holiday promotions are misleading or even outright fake, and I consider those practices legally questionable and reputationally unwise for retailers. Recent consumer-survey data show that a large majority of shoppers report feeling “misled” when a promotion fails to show a genuine prior price or when the supposedly discounted items are out of stock. In too many cases, “sale” prices are nothing more than a baseline price dressed up as a discount, or reference prices that never held for any meaningful period, which runs counter to fair advertising standards.
I do believe some promotional practices remain fair, but others cross the line — especially those that exploit consumer expectations around “doorbuster” or “limited time” deals when in fact the savings never existed. For example, widely repeated “was/now” pricing where the “was” appears inflated or never actual, or “site-wide sale” claims that exclude most items or require fine-print conditions, represent deceptive tactics. These are the kinds of practices that regulators frown on under truth-in-advertising laws, and that expose brands to both legal risk and consumer backlash.
In my view, the best path — always — is honesty and transparency. If a discount is real, show the history, make sure supply matches demand, and avoid bait-and-switch. If you rely on misleading promotions for short-term sales spikes, you risk long-term damage to the brand: erosion of trust, negative word-of-mouth, and potentially legal consequences. Those are costs far greater than any temporary boost in sales.
Black Friday pricing can mean “last week’s pricing with a new name.” Savvy customers will make a shopping list in September, then check the prices again in November. There are great deals to be had…know where they are.
The average shopper is usually pretty smart with their money- regardless of the promotional value advertised, most shoppers already know which companies offer the advertised prices, which ones are completely fake, and which ones are reasonable. They also usually have a good grasp of the potential value for most goods- exceptions would be fad items and new products. Pricing and promotions optimization systems today work off of customer demand data, but also announced competitor prices, so it may be competitive retailers getting hoodwinked just as much as consumers. There will always be a subset that fall for the great doorbuster promo, but most shoppers know that if it sounds too good to be true…
It’s not unusual for previous price promotional practices like Black Friday to morph into another week or two, or beyond. One persons promotionally priced holiday on certain items may not be a deal with another promotion. The key is, be a smart shopper, watch prices on items frequently you might be interested in.
I don’t believe retailers say, “let’s design a misleading or fake promotion” directly. I think they are just trying to get attention. Of course, the results are misleading or worse. They are just using basic advertising approaches.
I imagine in one of the first RetailWire discussions decades ago, we discussed the nonsense of 50% off the original price and how misleading that simple claim was, when in fact the original price was a fiction.
Shoppers have every right to be wary about the validity or integrity of most promotions. Too many ‘regular’ or ‘original’ prices are simply placeholders. They are there to tee up the % savings throughout the life of the product. For the retailer, it’s not about the ticketed margin, it’s about the margin on the average-out-the-door price over the life of the product. And that’s hardly a holiday-only issue. It’s a year-round issue.
Retail promotions are ridiculously out of control. Macy’s runs its One Day Sale monthly, and every week retailers like Gap, Loft, Old Navy, and Ann Taylor scream 40, 50, and 60% off!
Retailers have trained consumers to wait for promotions, and because they are so frequent and deep, they no longer believe the regular price is real. And frankly, why should they?
Consumers are catching on to certain brands that advertise sale prices with deep discounts, but in reality, are closer to their (if not the same) as their “everyday low prices.” In addition, they are also learning that the online price isn’t the same as the in-store price. Sometimes online prices are higher. (The reason for that is worthy of an article by itself.) The retailer is doing nothing wrong, but the customer may view the price differences as deceptive. The point is that once the customer knows this about the retailer, trust is broken.
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Consumers need to be very careful in terms of sales, as price reductions may not be all that they seem. Retailers use a lot of psychology in discounting, and many try to present sale prices as representing the best possible deal – but this isn’t always the case. The consumer should always ask whether, for them, the price represents good value for money. Some retailers, like Amazon, now have tools that allow you to see the historic price – so consumers can check how good deals are.
I’m in favor of “fair pricing” I don’t believe the “original price, usual selling price, msrp or any of the other names Retailers use to show just how big and wonderful their promos and discounts are. Trouble is – what’s fair. I think Neil is onto something that showing historical prices makes a better benchmark.
…and what is real in “original price”?
Yes — I do agree that some holiday promotions are misleading or even outright fake, and I consider those practices legally questionable and reputationally unwise for retailers. Recent consumer-survey data show that a large majority of shoppers report feeling “misled” when a promotion fails to show a genuine prior price or when the supposedly discounted items are out of stock. In too many cases, “sale” prices are nothing more than a baseline price dressed up as a discount, or reference prices that never held for any meaningful period, which runs counter to fair advertising standards.
I do believe some promotional practices remain fair, but others cross the line — especially those that exploit consumer expectations around “doorbuster” or “limited time” deals when in fact the savings never existed. For example, widely repeated “was/now” pricing where the “was” appears inflated or never actual, or “site-wide sale” claims that exclude most items or require fine-print conditions, represent deceptive tactics. These are the kinds of practices that regulators frown on under truth-in-advertising laws, and that expose brands to both legal risk and consumer backlash.
In my view, the best path — always — is honesty and transparency. If a discount is real, show the history, make sure supply matches demand, and avoid bait-and-switch. If you rely on misleading promotions for short-term sales spikes, you risk long-term damage to the brand: erosion of trust, negative word-of-mouth, and potentially legal consequences. Those are costs far greater than any temporary boost in sales.
Black Friday pricing can mean “last week’s pricing with a new name.” Savvy customers will make a shopping list in September, then check the prices again in November. There are great deals to be had…know where they are.
The average shopper is usually pretty smart with their money- regardless of the promotional value advertised, most shoppers already know which companies offer the advertised prices, which ones are completely fake, and which ones are reasonable. They also usually have a good grasp of the potential value for most goods- exceptions would be fad items and new products. Pricing and promotions optimization systems today work off of customer demand data, but also announced competitor prices, so it may be competitive retailers getting hoodwinked just as much as consumers. There will always be a subset that fall for the great doorbuster promo, but most shoppers know that if it sounds too good to be true…
It’s not unusual for previous price promotional practices like Black Friday to morph into another week or two, or beyond. One persons promotionally priced holiday on certain items may not be a deal with another promotion. The key is, be a smart shopper, watch prices on items frequently you might be interested in.
I don’t believe retailers say, “let’s design a misleading or fake promotion” directly. I think they are just trying to get attention. Of course, the results are misleading or worse. They are just using basic advertising approaches.
I imagine in one of the first RetailWire discussions decades ago, we discussed the nonsense of 50% off the original price and how misleading that simple claim was, when in fact the original price was a fiction.
Shoppers have every right to be wary about the validity or integrity of most promotions. Too many ‘regular’ or ‘original’ prices are simply placeholders. They are there to tee up the % savings throughout the life of the product. For the retailer, it’s not about the ticketed margin, it’s about the margin on the average-out-the-door price over the life of the product. And that’s hardly a holiday-only issue. It’s a year-round issue.
Retail promotions are ridiculously out of control. Macy’s runs its One Day Sale monthly, and every week retailers like Gap, Loft, Old Navy, and Ann Taylor scream 40, 50, and 60% off!
Retailers have trained consumers to wait for promotions, and because they are so frequent and deep, they no longer believe the regular price is real. And frankly, why should they?
Consumers are catching on to certain brands that advertise sale prices with deep discounts, but in reality, are closer to their (if not the same) as their “everyday low prices.” In addition, they are also learning that the online price isn’t the same as the in-store price. Sometimes online prices are higher. (The reason for that is worthy of an article by itself.) The retailer is doing nothing wrong, but the customer may view the price differences as deceptive. The point is that once the customer knows this about the retailer, trust is broken.