Recently, I have seen a number of "As Seen On TV" products in local stores, such as Walmart & Walgreens. In addition to that, there is now a store in my local mall that only sells "As Seen on TV" products. My question is: Does easy availability make these products less desirable then if you were only able to order them by calling the number in the television commercial?
This is true for me. I used to watch a lot of home shopping tv and I very much wanted to buy a few products of theirs, but they were always so expensive so I never did, and also I'm also cautious since I summed that those products were a bit experimental since if they were truly effective they would be a lot more mainstream. Since I found out I could just go to the mall and buy them or some other brand version of them though, the charm of wanting to buy on tv wore off.
I can vouch for what DrRipley said. When I was younger and didn't have the means to buy anything yet, I could only look at home shopping channels in awe. I thought the items sold on those networks were unique. Because they were different from the rest, they'd generate more results than those sold at department stores. Well, you can charge my naivete to youth. I learned later on that there's hardly any difference.
I used to LOVE watching infomercials as a kid. The Ronco dehydrator infomercial was like a cooking show to me. I was purely convinced that you could only buy food dehydrators over the TV and nowhere else. I would beg my mom to buy one all the time. Now as an adult and with all the "As Seen on TV" items filling the store shelves I am realizing that my childhood obsession was just that. You can buy a dehydrator anywhere. You can buy a better one even. I will agree that I am always intrigued with the items that are as seen on TV but almost every item I have tried has turned out to be junk and NOT a money saver at all. Its a gimmick to waste money on junk that works once.
This is definitely true. I will watch to get ideas, but I have never ever bought anything off these channels off the back of the adverts. Instead If I really want it, i'll go get it elsewhere. Like most, i find these channels have a slightly tacky feel about them LOL My mum in law bought me these cute earrings off one TV channel. They came with an authenticity certificate, but they'd "died" on me within months! I know she paid a pretty penny for them too.
I wouldn't say that it lessens the appeal as such but I'd definitely be a bit wary because a lot of the things on the shopping channels aren't exactly quality shall we say. I think a lot will depend on what the item is and how much it is.
I actually prefer to wait until they come out in the stores because I don't order things off the tv. If they have enough sales to make it into a retail store that means they are doing something right. I will pay the money when I see the product on the shelf and decide it's worth a try. Plus, I don't have to pay the crazy shipping and handling and wait a week before I get my product.
Sometimes I don't necessarily like seeing as seen on TV products in stores but to be honest with you it doesn't necessarily lower my desire to buy. If I see it in stores and is cheaper that defiantly makes me happy because I feel like I'm getting a huge deal to be honest with you.
There used to be a lot of adverts for ''as seen on TV products'' and the announcer would always say ''this product is not available in the shops'' They made the item seem rare and almost unobtainable and if you got hold of one it would be something unique that no one else had. Those were pre internet days and hark back to simpler times, now you can source virtually any product with a few clicks of a mouse. I would say this ease of availability does lessen my desire to purchase such products because now they just seem ordinary and you can get hold of them whenever you like. Their is no air of mystique surrounding these ''as seen on TV'' products anymore.
"As seen on TV" just makes me feel that the product is kinda cheap if they have to advertise that. I'm sure they're good products but just because they've been on TV doesn't mean anything at all
No. It actually is more convenient for me to buy from the store, and I like being able to see what I am getting and even test it out. The only advantage to the TV ads, is how they offer certain discounts by the hour and you can really save some money.
Honestly? When I see the "As seen on TV" label, I make sure to stay away from the product altogether. So, no, not really, it just makes me want not to buy it in the store.
I never thought about it but it really does! Regardless of how they package it in the store they look cheap. On tv everything looks so much nicer and sturdier. In the store you find out what it really looks and feels like before you buy it.
Not at ALL. It makes them easier to take back if something is wrong with them out of the box or if they break in the first few days. And lets be honest, many of these products are little more than cheap Chinese throw away products....especially the cheap ones. I did order a NutraBullet from Fingerhut though and am very happy with it. No need to go to Starbucks any longer for my frosty coffee drinks
Fingerhut rarely let me get disappointed. They're actually really good about honest advertisements. I've bought everything from a stereo, to the parking meter piggy bank, and couch covers, rug set, and on and on. I was going to sign back up but when I tried they had all kinds of new rules and regulations. It just wasn't worth it to go through all the trouble just because I only have to pay 2 $ a month for it.
Being able to buy infomercial items in store isn't what makes them less desirable to me. What makes them less desirable is that now I can go online and read honest reviews by customers who were disappointed with the products. In the 80s and 90s, you couldn't really look up an Amazon review of a product. Now there are all kinds of review sites where you can find out what people really thought of the product. That's a bigger deterrent than being able to buy an Ove Glove at the gas station.
Easier access to "as seen on tv" products is more desirable for me. I would NEVER call a number I saw on tv, but I would definitely peruse a store for these types of products. I just feel safer in a store where I can inspect the merchandise before I buy it. Sometimes, just by inspecting something I saw on tv, I can tell if it is made reasonably well and may actually see it in action.
I was wondering the same thing when I was at Walmart the other day. I always used to watch the commericals and want the items. I either didn’t have the money or didn’t want to wait. Now I see the items in the store and think they’re junk. They tend to look better on TV than in real life. I saw those microwave little crock style pots at Dollar Tree for a dollar a few months back. I didn’t even buy them. I should have.
It really doesn't affect me at all, I wouldn't consider buying the vast majority of these products if they were sold in stores for the prices that the TV stations charge. It's all psychological at the end of the day, designed to make you feel like you are getting an exclusive bargain. Three months down the line, they turn up in the local pound store!
Yep, same here. I was just about to say, I'd rather wait for them to show up in the dollar store anyway. I doubt that there is anything that I want badly enough to pay $19.95 + shipping and handling for it. Most of it is junk. I might pay a dollar, just to try something out. Otherwise, I usually can't be bothered. Sure, there's been a thing or two that looked kind of cool, but I can still wait until it lands in the dollar store. There's nothing that I've seen so far that I just had to have.
