#discount-agreements

#discount-agreements

When planning our budgets, we tend to focus on cutting costs. Yet, sometimes a little strategic spending can help to save money in the long term, by reducing our regular expenses and replacing repeat purchases of single-use items.

"Transportation costs are a big factor there. Every company that is involved and has logistics and they have to pay for gas, either they have to absorb this cost, or they will charge the third party that will provide this service. I'm not surprised this is happening, because at some point, Amazon will say we cannot absorb all this cost."

Many of the medicines on TrumpRx include brand-name drugs that patients can find cheaper elsewhere as generics. For instance, Protonix for heartburn is available for $200 on TrumpRx, but the generic version, pantoprazole, costs less than $30 with a GoodRx coupon.

Within roughly the past six months alone, Swiftly expanded its alcohol rebate programs from about 11,000 stores to more than 33,000 stores in 44 states. Swiftly had built an alcohol cashback product in 2023 but scaled it through the acquisition of alcohol promotions platform BYBE in 2024.

For $1,000, Tomi Mikula will do something most people dread: negotiate with a car dealer. The 33-year-old spent more than a decade selling cars and auto financing at dealerships before starting his own business doing the opposite. Now he uses dealer speak and an encyclopedic knowledge of inventory to talk down sticker prices for buyers.

With the Supreme Court potentially poised to invalidate recent tariffs, organizations face a confusing scenario. Having clear visibility into contract terms - such as price adjustments and renegotiation provisions - is essential to navigating this volatility. Come join us on at 1 p.m. ET on Jan. 27 for this CLE-approved webinar, where we'll discuss the current state of the tariff conundrum and explore strategies for achieving contract visibility with the latest AI innovations.

When you work in the operating world, you are in the weeds of your business. For example, at SoFi I knew all the nuances of different types of student loan forbearance programs and at Brex I knew the minutiae of the Mastercard transaction chargeback rules. This contrasts with my experience as a private equity investor where I look at purchasing a business ranging from a chain of laundromats to Ancestry.com within the same month.

For years, car dealerships had a terrible reputation. Pushy sales tactics, confusing pricing, and long hours spent negotiating made the entire experience feel more like a battle than a purchase. Like many buyers, I assumed that avoiding dealerships altogether was the smartest way to buy a car, especially as online platforms and direct-to-consumer models gained popularity. Over time, however, my perspective began to shift.

Intent arbitrage means capturing a buyer's interest before they even start evaluating competitors - and thanks to AI, this capability is available to every business. AI detects emerging intent by processing millions of data points and continuously monitoring intent signals, letting companies respond faster than traditional, reactive demand-generation methods. Turning early intent signals into a competitive advantage requires leadership buy-in and coordination between marketing, sales and product teams.

Discounting has been part of retail's toolkit for decades, and it can be effective, especially during high-stakes shopping seasons. But as promotions become more frequent across the industry, companies are taking a closer look at the downside: Short-term sales gains don't always come with long-term loyalty or durable margins, and customers remember how a brand made them feel far more than what they saved at checkout.

First, we asked fuel market analyst Patrick De Haan at GasBuddy, an app that finds deals, how many gallons the typical American driver buys in a year. He said 600, which works out to roughly 40 purchases of 15 gallons each. We then identified 13 Costco warehouses in metro areas that cover the continental US and compared their gas station prices to GasBuddy's average price for those local markets on the same day.

When a transaction involves a cost, we instinctively weigh the downside. But when something is entirely free, we experience a positive emotion and perceive the offer as more valuable than it is mathematically. Retailers no doubt realise that offering free delivery is one of the most effective ways to stop a consumer from abandoning a digital shopping cart.

We're still increasing pricing based on the most up-to-date tariff announcements from India and the U.S., because it's not going back down to zero. It's still elevated. The cost of our goods has also shot up, because gold has almost doubled since last year.

You're scrolling through an online retailer, like Amazon, Shein or eBay, and spot a shirt on sale for $40. You add it to your cart, but at checkout, a $10 shipping fee suddenly appears. Frustrated, you close the tab. But what if that same shirt was priced at $50 with free shipping? The likelihood that you would have bought it without a second thought is much higher.

Markup is how much you add to your cost to get your selling price. If something costs $10 and you sell it for $15 , you added $5. That's a 50 percent markup on your cost. Where people get confused is that markup isn't the same as margin, even though the terms get used interchangeably all the time. Margin measures profit as a percentage of the selling price, and markup measures it based on your costs. Same dollar, different percentages.

I'm a professional couponer who shares tips with my millions of followers on social media. I have a long couponing history. Both of my parents got laid off during the recession and had two teenage daughters. They needed to figure out how to make ends meet quickly, so my mom took a community college class and learned the basics of couponing.

If you're feeling anxious about the economy, you're not alone. Consumer confidence is at its lowest in more than a decade. Americans are worried about inflation, a possible recession, and job security-and that anxiety is reshaping how they spend. Even high earners are pulling back. Households are cutting big-ticket indulgences like vacations, fine dining, and designer fashion and redirecting spending toward essentials like groceries and personal care.