The key facts

  • A promo code can be stacked on top of an already reduced price if the terms allow it
  • Sellers use coupons as a filter: the same item is sold at different prices to different buyers
  • In November, the 11.11 sale, Black Friday (November 27) and Cyber Monday (November 30) will take place

A coupon on top of a discount

During November sales, promo codes can turn out to be more advantageous than regular discounts, Artem Loginov, CEO of the content marketing agency KOMREDA, told Gazeta.Ru. According to him, sales train shoppers to look primarily at the price tag: the bigger the discount, the stronger the feeling that it will not get any better. A promo code does not fit into this logic — it is usually not displayed on the storefront, the code has to be found and applied separately, so the tool remains in the shadows.

How it works and what the catch is

A coupon can be stacked on top of an already reduced price, and the savings add up; it often applies to items that were not included in the sale at all, and sometimes it offers personal terms that are not publicly available, the expert noted. At the same time, a promo code has a flip side: according to Loginov, it is a filter that allows a seller to sell the same item to different people at different prices. Codes may be issued only for new customers, for those who have not bought anything in a long time, or for store subscribers; some codes are displayed openly, while others are distributed through bloggers and social media — as a result, the same item goes to some people at a discount, while those who did not search pay the full price.

Where to look for codes

Loginov advises looking for promotional codes in several places: first of all, on the shopping platform itself — there may be codes that work only there; during sales, discounted items are collected in separate selections on the main page and on special pages, and the codes themselves are gathered in the

Sales context

In November, Russia will host the 11.11 sale, Black Friday (November 27) and Cyber Monday (November 30). Earlier, on November 5, the same outlet explained how to tell a real discount from an advertising one — the advice on promo codes continues this topic, shifting the focus from checking the size of the discount to finding additional savings tools.