Thursday, May 1, 2008

Know Gap Coupon Codes Better

Gap is one of the best known clothing store chains the world. This is partly because of its marketing strategies, which aim to capture the market one demographic at a time. Each marketing strategy presents consumers with a different "face" of Gap. Lately, the marketing strategies of Gap have taken them to the world of cyberspace. An essential part of this strategy: Gap coupon codes.

Gap coupon codes are sequences of numbers and letters that activate a specific discount or promo when used while shopping online. These codes are mainly distributed by the company through affiliate websites and through email alerts.

Why would a company want to distribute coupon codes? It might seem odd for a company to distribute something that will lower the amount that people pay for their merchandise. However, you have to realize that coupon codes are a way to promote the company itself. Through coupon codes, a company will be able to attract more customers and grab a bigger market share. Hence, the loss of profit through discount will be more than replaced by the influx of income through new customers.

Gap coupon codes are marketing tools –this is one fact that you should not forget when making use of them. Their ultimate goal is to get you to spend your money. With a coupon code, you have the potential to save or spend a lot of money. There are a lot of pitfalls that may veer you towards spending and you need to know them in order to avoid their perils. Here are some of the common pitfalls:

1) The prearranged shopping cart – when shopping online, you might encounter a coupon code that requires you to take control of a shopping cart that has already been pre-filled with items. It is often tempting to get this shopping cart, since most companies advertise such as having discounted items.

However, this can be a bit dangerous. You need to check which items are in the shopping cart before paying for it. You need to carefully check if the items in that cart are really what you need and if you are truly getting some savings from them.

2) The minimum purchase requirement – most coupon codes require you to have a specified amount of purchases before you can avail of the discount or special offer. These types of coupon codes are the most dangerous for people, since they have the potential to make people spend more instead of less. The best way to avoid this would be to suit the coupon to the purchases instead of the other way around.

You need to have a clear idea regarding how much you are going to spend and which items you will buy. After you have budgeted your money, you might want to find the coupons that apply and use these coupons to your advantage. You also need to exercise a bit of flexibility. This is because you might want to get a bit over your budget if the offer is really good. You need to recognize the true value of a bargain.

Coupon codes are meant to help people. Codes are also meant to convince people to spend their money at Gap. All in all, the final use of the Gap coupon code will always be up to you.

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