For years now, Target has been my favorite store for an all-around shopping experience. They have far surpassed Wal-Mart in my book and I almost always consider them even for specialty items. However, the biggest reason that I continuously find myself choosing to shop at Target is that probably 75% of the time I discover upon checking out that my item has been discounted even further than the price tag indicates. Psychologically, that really gets me excited… I am the special, lucky person that discovered a special, hidden bargain!!! Even the clearance items that sometimes have been marked down drastically are often marked down even further upon checkout… “Yes sir, that shirt IS only $1.98.”

Just a couple examples… I recently bought an IPod Video 30gb with an advertised price of $249.99, but it rang up at $229.99. I also once got a $50 electronic music “DJ-mixin-turntable type thing” for $5.00 because of a clearance price and a further markdown at the register. This keeps me coming back for more and more… what kinds of treasures will I discover next time?

Do I think that Target realizes this and have been purposely feeding this psychological desire for discovery? Yeah, probably… but that’s a very good reason to continue shopping there. As my wife just pointed out… this is also done very well (and continues to bring me in the doors) at Kohl’s. Thanks Target and Kohl’s for the psychological coddling! Keep up the great work!

[tags]Target, bargains, markdown, clearance, Kohl’s, shopping, IPod, 30gb[/tags]