Hi,
First time shopper for school supplies. I'm seeing this really weird pricing at officeworks.
Bostik blu stik 35 gm $1.39 ea = $6.95 for 5
Or buy a Bostik blu stik 35gm 5 pack for $16.50.That's $3.30 each for the exact same gluestick. 137% more!!!
Same for Staedtler Learner Jumbo Triangular Graphite Pencil 2B. See here
$0.90 for single loose pencil
$1.25 ea when buying a 2 pack
$1.57 ea when buying a 12 pack
$1.33 ea when buying a 50 pack
the exact same freaking pencil!
What gives?
Most likely due to price-matching/beating other retailers (on individual items) during the back to school sales.
For example: the Bostik Blu Stik Glue 35g are usually ~$3.50+ RRP each outside of back to school sales. As for the pencils, I guess you're paying more for the packaging.
That makes sense.
A single Blu Stik is being sold for $2.50 at Woolworths and The School Locker. My guess is that Officeworks wanted to take the loss-leader approach with this item and also massively undercut their competition to show they really are by far the cheapest option for Blu Stiks (and they would hope it would make people think they really are the cheapest option for everything related to Back To School).
A 5pk of Blu Stik is not being sold at Woolworths or The School Locker (and is not in stock at Amazon AU at the moment), so Officeworks has less incentive to drop their prices for a multipack.
What gives?
Perhaps encouraging parents to review their primary school maths?
Diligent find!
also to catch people out
they might only look for the 5 pack, when buying 5 singles is cheaper
On top of the price matching mentioned above, some of these are sale/catalogue items. Officeworks doesn't have a notification of a sale vs normal price like supermarkets do.
For example, the blu stick is in the current catalogue as a single item, the 5 pack isn't.
Its really no different to Big W. Single loose UHU 40g glue sticks are $1.35 each. The 2 packs are $7.75 while a packaged single of the same item is $3.50.
https://www.bigw.com.au/product/uhu-pokemon-glue-stick-40g-a…
https://www.bigw.com.au/product/uhu-glue-stick-40g-2-pack/p/…
https://www.bigw.com.au/product/uhu-glue-stic-40g/p/383860
My child needed 10 of the “magic blu stic” so I purchased 10 of them loose. You get a bonus with the added Pokemon characters. My son loves Pikachu.
I know this is a 'back to school' post - and I am no mathmatician - but if 1 glue stick is $1.39, and the price of 1 glue stick in a five pack = $3.30 - that is a LOT more than 137% of the lower price. Did you mean 237%?
1.39 + 137%(1.39) = 237%(1.39) = 3.2943
I meant to convey 137% more than the original price. Also acceptable is 237% of 1.39 (as you pointed out). Both are correct, just the phrasing.
this could be sneaky marketing hoping people will buy the bulk pack thinking it is cheaper… or they might make the bulk expensive to make the single unit seem cheap.
Probably because of flybuys