Merchants Pile On Deals To Woo Tepid Consumers

There was a time that Americans consumption of staple products – toothpaste, soap, toilet paper – was an area one could always count on for consistent growth, but in recent memory this has not been true.   For the last three years, sales of staple consumer good has been largely flat.

To motivate consumers toward consumption both manufacturers and retails have been offering increasingly ramped up rewards, discounts, coupons and promotions – even at the risk of training customers to wait for a deal.

“When we see some of the promotional pricing out there, it’s pretty clear someone has lost their mind,” Bill Schmitz, a Deutsche Bank analyst, told The Wall Street Journal.

Though the pricing deals have show success in introducing some people to new brands, on the whole they have done little to slow the stagnation of the consumer goods sector.

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