Good old marketing: Where are thou?

I recently visited Pantaloons to get some dresses. They were running a sale or something which sounded like "buy for Rs 1000 and get a 7.5% discount voucher". I knew these discount voucher scams. Unless one reads the fine print you can assume its a lost case. Some usual '*conditions apply' are:

1. You may have to buy from 22nd June to 26th June (meaning a very small window and probably one would not notice that)

2. You have to buy for Rs 2000 minimum to avail the discount (which effectively means you have to buy for Rs 1000+Rs 2000 to avail the discount)

3. You cannot use the discount coupon to buy t shirts, shirts, peter england ties, levis jeans and excalibur suits (self explanatory. Closes off many obvious purchases)

I was aware of all these tactics and thought let me read the fine print at Pantaloons to make sure of what I am getting into. And boy! I was shocked!

Good thing was that it was not technically fine print. They had put up a large poster with the rules for using discount coupon which went something like this.

1. For every 1000 Rs purchase one would get a 7.5% discount coupon which can be used in the next purchase
2. One can club 2 discount coupons maximum for buying red tagged dresses
3. One can club 4 discount coupons maximum for buying green tagged dresses
4. One can use only 1 discount coupon for buying yellow tagged dresses
5. One can use 2 discount coupons maximum for buying deos, belts, ties, handkerchiefs and other accessories
6. Irrespective of number of discount coupons maximum amount to which discount can be applied is Rs 10000
7. However, no grey tagged dresses can be discounted using the discount vouchers
8. 4 more points of the same order

I was reminded of those puzzling questions which used to come in CAT Data Interpretation section and also of those good ol' George Summers puzzles.

I could not figure out what the marketing manager was thinking when he devised this "ingenius sale". Did the marketing manager actually think that some 40 year old auntie will go through this whole thing, figure out the convoluted 12 point rule book and then understand which dresses she must buy.

Ridiculous. I can actually imagine a few MBA's doing an all nighter coming up with these "smart" sale strategy and making a nice PPT to the senior management. I guess they would have also used some complicated regression analysis. It all sounds so dilbertish. :P