Buy one, get one free explained

"Buy one, get one free" or "two for the price of one" is a common form of sales promotion. Economist Alex Tabarrok has argued that the success of this promotion lies in the fact that consumers value the first unit significantly more than the second one. So compared to a seemingly equivalent "Half price off" promotion, they may only buy one item at half price, because the value they attach to the second unit is lower than even the discounted price.^[1]

The concept of "buy one, get one free" was devised in the 18th century by retail entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood.^{[2] [3]} This technique is commonly known in the marketing industry by the acronym BOGOF, or simply BOGO.^{[4] [5]}

Criticism

Two-for-one promotions in the food industry have been criticized as contributing to food waste. Because many foods under such offers have short shelf lives, customers are more likely to pass the products' use by date.^{[6] [7] [8] [9]}

Notes and References

1. http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2004/03/buy_one_get_one.html Buy one get one free
2. News: Judith. Flanders. They Broke It. The New York Times. 9 January 2009.
3. News: Josiah Wedgwood, an Industrial Revolution pioneer . 8 June 2024 . Adam Smith Institute.
4. News: Wallop . Harry . Food waste: Why supermarkets will never say bogof to buy one get one free . Telegraph . 2008-07-07 . 2010-08-28 . London.
5. News: Roberts . Loren. What does BOGO really mean? . Walton Tribune. 2012-01-24 . 2021-02-19 . Monroe, GA.
6. https://www.tallahassee.com/story/life/home-garden/2020/11/27/food-precious-resource-often-goes-waste/6406518002/ Shop wisely: Better habits can prevent waste of precious resource
7. News: Young . Philippa . Supermarket 'Bogof' deals criticised over food waste . 17 October 2014 . 6 April 2014 . BBC News.
8. News: Buy-one-get-one-free offers 'should be scrapped to cut food waste' . 17 October 2014 . 6 April 2014.
9. News: Swinburne . Zander . Supermarkets urged to scrap buy-one-get-one-free as shoppers waste 222m tons of food a year . 20 October 2014 . 6 April 2014 . London . The Independent.