Sale Banners That Say Up to Half Off

Half off on the banner, a tenth at the till

A shoe store's holiday banner fills the top of its home page: up to half off. The email to the store's list says the same in its subject line.

A customer drives in and chooses three pairs, and at the counter each turns out to be reduced by a tenth or a fifth. The half-off pairs fill a single rack at the back, in sizes few people wear.

Nothing on the banner is literally false. The customer still feels misled, and says so to the staff, to friends and sometimes in a review.

The general impression counts

Canada's Competition Act covers what a business tells the public in any form, websites, emails and signs included, and forbids claims that mislead on a point that matters.

Whether a claim misleads is judged by the general impression it gives, not only by its literal words.

Read at a glance, up to half off says that much of the store is heavily reduced. If only a handful of items carry the top discount, the words can be true while the impression is not.

Take this as general information about advertising rules rather than legal advice on a particular sale. The Competition Bureau publishes guidance on savings claims for anyone who wants the detail.

When an up-to claim is fair

An up-to figure can be honest. It usually is when these hold:

• A real share of the stock carries the top discount, not a token few items.
• The items are named beside the figure, or at least their category.
• The lower discounts appear too, so the whole range is visible.
• The regular prices are genuine, the ones the items normally sell at.
• The stock is there in reasonable quantities on the first day.
• The dates and exclusions sit next to the claim.

None of this needs legal language. It needs facts the store already has, placed where the customer reads the headline.

Name what is half off

The simplest fix is to say what the top discount applies to. Half off last season's boots, a fifth off everything else, is still an attractive headline, and it is accurate.

Specific headlines suit phones too, where the banner may be all a visitor reads before deciding whether to come in.

The email subject line deserves the same care. Plenty of readers see only the subject, so it has to stand on its own without the conditions in the body.

Small print that takes it back

A common shortcut is an asterisk leading to selected styles only, in small type at the foot of the email. The headline says one thing and the footnote quietly withdraws it.

Small print can add detail, but it cannot rescue a headline that says something else. Limits belong beside the figure, in a size people read.

The same goes for the website. A banner that links to the conditions beats one that hides them, but the key limit still belongs on the banner itself.

One message everywhere

The banner, the email and the store signs are often written by different people at different times. One says selected styles, another does not, and the most generous version sets the customer's expectation.

Write a single sheet of sale facts first: what is discounted, by how much, from when to when, and what is excluded. Every banner, email and sign is then written from that sheet.

Check all three side by side before the sale opens, and again whenever anything changes, such as an extended date or a sold-out line.

Regular prices that are real

Half off only means something if the price it comes off is genuine: the price the item normally sold at, or was honestly offered at for a substantial period.

A regular price raised just before a sale, so the discount looks larger, is a separate problem under the same law. Keep a record of the prices each item actually carried.

A worked example

A family shoe store on the main street in Nelson sells boots, runners and dress shoes, and runs a holiday sale from late November to the end of Boxing Week.

Last year's banner and email said up to half off. At the counter, staff spent the sale explaining that half off meant a clearance rack of discontinued styles in limited sizes.

Most of the store had been a tenth or a fifth off. The website banner and the email were written by different people, and only the store signs mentioned selected styles.

This year the sale facts went on one sheet first. The headline reads half off last season's boots, a fifth off this season's styles, on the site, in the email and on every sign.

The banner links to a page listing what is in each group. Customers arrive expecting the discount they will get, and the clearance rack still draws those who want the deepest one.

When the sale ends

A sale that ends on Sunday should end on the website on Sunday too. A banner still promising half off on Wednesday invites customers to expect a price that no longer exists.

Set the end date when the banner goes up, and give one person the job of taking it down, along with the store signs and any posts on the store's Facebook Page.

The counter-case

Some sales do carry the top discount widely. A closing-down sale, or a clearance where most of the stock really is half off, can say up to half off fairly.

A stated range, such as a tenth to half off by style, also gives readers the bottom of the scale as well as the top.

Those sales still need the claim checked against the actual stock before the banner goes up. The impression the headline leaves is the promise customers bring to the counter.

Wording the holiday sale

1. List what is discounted and by how much.
2. Check the regular prices each discount starts from.
3. Write the headline from that list, naming the items.
4. Put the limits beside the figure, not in a footnote.
5. Use the same words on the site, in the email and on the signs.
6. Confirm the stock is in the store for the first day.
7. Take the banner down when the sale ends.

Step one is where accuracy starts. A headline written from an actual list of discounts can hardly overstate them, and the same list keeps every channel saying the same thing.

When an advertised item runs out, rain cheques and a sold-out notice keep the offer honest, as a sale item still advertised after it sold out shows.

Frequently asked questions

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