Percentage off versus rand saved: which one to trust
Why a big percentage can hide a small saving, and the simple figure that tells you what a deal is really worth.
Sales are sold in percentages because a percentage sounds bigger than it is. "50% off" feels like a serious cut. The rand figure underneath it often tells a duller, more honest story, and the gap between the two is where most fake savings hide. Learning to switch between the two numbers, and to reach for a third one the retailer never shows you, is the single most useful habit a sceptical shopper can build.
Why the percentage flatters the deal
A percentage is only as honest as the price it is calculated from. That is its weakness. Take the was-price up, and the same selling price suddenly wears a bigger discount, with no actual generosity from the retailer. The number on the badge can be inflated without anyone touching the price you pay, simply by choosing a higher figure to discount from. That is why a steep percentage on an unfamiliar brand, with no history behind it, is the classic shape of an inflated anchor rather than a genuine bargain.
There is a psychological reason the percentage works on us. A big number next to a small one feels like a big gap, and our attention goes to the size of the cut rather than the price we end up paying. Retailers know this, which is why the percentage is printed large and the actual price small.
The rand saving is harder to fake, but not by much
Switching to rands helps, because "you save R40" is concrete in a way "20% off" is not. You can feel R40. But the rand saving is still measured against the retailer's was-price, so an inflated anchor still flatters it. If the was-price was never real, neither is the rand saving calculated from it. The rand figure is better than the percentage, not bullet-proof, and it can still be built on a number the item never reached.
The number that actually counts
The honest saving is the gap between today's price and the price the item genuinely held for the longest stretch, the figure we call the usual price. That ignores the marketing number entirely, because it is built from what the item really cost over time rather than what the retailer chose to cross out. It is the only one of the three numbers that the badge cannot inflate.
The difference is not small. Across the deals we have tracked long enough to judge, the typical badge says 52% off, but the median real saving against the usual price is only about 10% (R19.90). Roughly 49% of the deals we can verify save you under 10% against the price the item normally holds, whatever the sticker says. Same items, very different story, depending only on which of the three numbers you trust.
A worked example
An item is badged at R500, down from R1,000. That is 50% off and R500 saved, both impressive on the shelf. But suppose we have it on record selling at R600 for months. Measured against that usual price, the genuine saving is R100, or about 17%. The badge was built off a R1,000 the item never really held, so both the percentage and the rand figure were flattering a deal that is real but modest. Only the usual price gave it away, and only because someone kept the record.
Now run it the other way. An item badged at just 20% off, from R1,000 to R800, looks unexciting. But if it has genuinely sold at R1,000 for the better part of a year and this is the lowest we have recorded, that dull 20% is a real R200 saving against a real price. The quiet deal is the better one, and the percentage hid it.
The rule
Ignore the badge and the crossed-out price. Find the price the item normally holds, and measure your saving against that. If that gap is small, the deal is small, whatever the sticker says, and if it is large against a price the item genuinely held, the deal is real even when the badge is modest. The percentage is for the retailer. The usual price is for you.
How we work out the usual price.
Figures on this page are calculated from our own price tracking and update as we record new prices. We do not invent price drops or savings.