It’s Monday, I’m Nithya Sudhir. I collect words, chase patterns, and write about whatever makes me curious.
We found that, for most people, screenshots are a reminder to buy something later.
Which, if you look at it, is actually a signal to wait — for a better deal.
In fact, 91% of Americans delay an online purchase specifically to wait for a discount, and half intentionally abandon their cart hoping a retailer sends a code to win them back.
So, the screenshot is becoming less a reminder and more a placeholder for a better price.
Which raises an uncomfortable question — if shoppers believe a better deal is always one wait away, do they trust the price in front of them right now?
And how can a brand make today’s price feel safe enough to act on?
🤝 This edition is kindly brought to you by Tatari
Tatari surveyed TV advertisers about their 2026 holiday plans, and brands are moving early:
Nearly 6 in 10 are increasing their BFCM TV budgets, and 54% plan to launch holiday messaging before mid-November.
Launching earlier gives brands time to find what converts before TV inventory gets more competitive and expensive.
That’s how Knix approached TV. After testing ahead of peak season, one spot drove 9,000 site visits within five minutes at a 70% lower CPA. Creative testing also doubled response rates and cut CPV by 45%.
The extra runway helped Knix identify what deserved more budget before purchase intent peaked.
By Black Friday, you don’t want to still be testing. You want to be scaling.
P.S. In NYC Oct. 29? Join Tatari at Forward for an afternoon on what’s next in advertising with Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, and marketers from Liquid IV, MANSCAPED, and more.
Who taught us to wait?
Brands did, one discount at a time.
If a brand regularly offers 10% for signing up, 15% after cart abandonment, 20% during a weekend sale, 25% for Black Friday, and an "extended" 25% on Monday, waiting becomes a learned pricing strategy.
The Journal of Marketing Research found that greater exposure to promotions can make customers more sensitive to both prices and future promotions over time.
In other words, discounts do not merely influence today’s purchase.
They also change what customers learn to expect tomorrow.
In a survey of 2,000 US consumers, 60% said they always or often search for a promotional code before buying online. If finding one took too long, 37% said they would abandon the purchase.
The two prices in the shopper’s mind
Once that possibility exists, every product then acquires two prices:
The visible price: what the product costs now.
The imagined price: what it might cost if the shopper waits.
The decision then becomes: buy now at a known price, or wait for a possibly better one?
So, is this actually a problem?
Yes, and shoppers are losing trust.
51% of consumers globally, and 52% in the US, say brands regularly float fake discounts. Only 23% believe an item marked "on sale" is actually discounted most of the time, even as 72% of US adults now track price trends over time before buying anything.
That skepticism isn't paranoia.
Consumers' Checkbook tracked prices at 25 major retailers for six months and found 21 of them advertised "sale" prices more than half the time.
The "regular" price crossed out next to the deal was rarely a price anyone actually paid.
So when a shopper doesn't trust the number in front of them, they don't stop shopping. They stop buying on the spot.
This can lead to shoppers suspecting a BFCM discount, for example, isn't the real bottom, making them wait out Black Friday the same way they'd wait out a regular Tuesday markdown, betting that Cyber Monday, an "extended" version, or January clearance will beat it.
Which shopping mistake would be hardest for you to forgive?
Will it get any cheaper?
To understand why this happens, we need to look at the psychology behind why waiting appeals to shoppers, how the brain actually processes that decision, and how to rebuild trust in prices.
So, why is it so hard to stop waiting?
Firstly, anticipated regret makes stops shoppers on their track — ”How will I feel if I buy this today and it is cheaper tomorrow?”
It also pushes them toward whichever option is easiest to defend later.
They end up choosing the safer, more popular, or more heavily discounted option so that if it goes wrong, it doesn't feel like their own bad judgment.
Secondly, loss aversion, where the brain processes a potential loss more intensely than an equivalent gain, makes that later €20 reduction feel like €20 lost, even when today’s price originally seemed reasonable.
If you look deeper, shoppers like waiting because:
1. They like keeping their options open.
Every time a shopper decides not to buy right now, they're keeping several other paths open at once — a better code, a different brand might undercut this price, the item might drop further next week.
Buying closes all of those paths.
Research shows people will go out of their way, and pay a real cost, just to stop a possibility from disappearing, even when they never intend to act on it.
2. Deal hunting feels personally rewarding.
People felt better about a discount when they believed they were personally responsible for obtaining it.
Deal hunting can easily become proof of patience, skill and control, while paying the first price may feel like failing at shopping.
3. Missing the best offer makes later ones feel worse.
The inaction inertia effect describes how missing an excellent opportunity can make people less willing to accept a later, still-good one.
Image Source: Kickstartsidehustle
4. Unresolved uncertainty is uncomfortable.
We all have a desire to replace uncertainty with a firm answer.
In reality, a shopper may not always need the mathematically lowest possible price, but simply the doubt to end.
However, a resetting timer, changing coupons, and approaching sales events keeps the question open.
So, in a way, brands that keep offering more reasons to buy, actually give the shopper more reasons to wait.
How can brands increase trust in prices, sale or not?
By making the price the same fact for everyone, every time, whether it's discounted or not.
Across five studies, researchers found that fluctuating prices reduced trust in the retailer and prolonged the amount of time customers spent searching for another price.
Prices that keep moving, even when they move down, can read less like a deal and more like a system built to be worked.
So, how can brands discount without making every price feel negotiable?
Keep the base price equal
Personalised offers are easier to trust when the rules are visible. Keep the base price consistent, then explain why someone qualifies for a loyalty reward, student discount or first-order offer.
Protect customers after they buy
If buying today could become an expensive mistake tomorrow, waiting feels safer. Price protection removes that risk.
Pact, for example, returns the difference as store credit when an item goes on sale within 14 days. Customers no longer have to predict the bottom of the pricing cycle.
Give shoppers a win without making them hunt
Finding a deal feels rewarding. But customers should not have to abandon a cart or search the internet to earn it.
Offer visible member prices, bundles or reward thresholds. Then automatically apply the best eligible offer at checkout.
Do not make today’s offer compete with yesterday’s
Avoid promotional ladders that train customers to wait for the largest percentage.
Kopari once took the opposite approach, emailing customers “Don’t buy anything today” and explaining its Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers in advance.
Give the sale a real ending
Our need for cognitive closure means customers want permission to stop searching. Give the promotion one clear offer, one stable window and one genuine end date.
Make the comparison price verifiable
The precision effect suggests exact numbers can feel more credible—but only when they are true.
Show the genuine previous price, the lowest price from the past 30 days and the exact saving.
What have I learnt from all this?
A discount should lower the cost of buying, not raise the cost of deciding.
If shoppers must monitor prices, abandon carts and wait for the next promotion to feel safe, the offer has made the purchase psychologically more expensive.
This BFCM, perhaps the strongest promise shouldn’t be “our biggest discount yet,” but “you won’t regret buying today.”
Do you agree?
How's the depth of today's edition?
As always, hit reply if something in here hits home.
See you next week,
Nithya
P.S. If you want to get a case study about your own brand, reply to this email. If you’d like to reach our newsletter audience (founders, creators, and marketers), click the button below.
If you’re new here, I’m over the moon you’ve joined us! To help me craft content that’s actually useful (and not just noise in your inbox), I’d love it if you took 1 minute to answer this quick survey below. Your insights help shape everything I write.
