With the January sales already kicking off, shoppers are being urged to look for some secret codes that can reveal a lot about an upcoming sale.
Channel 4’s Supershoppers has revealed that items often contain a handwritten code on the label days before a sale.
These mysterious codes tell shoppers how much an item will be reduced by, and how to spot an imminent sale.
Presenter Sabrina Grant scoured some of the shops to discover what these written codes mean.
Sabrina headed to Oasis to find a dress worth £42 which had a handwritten code on the label.
The code read ‘RF25’, and was then reduced to £25 two days later.
In another shop, a dress worth £70 had a handwritten code reading ‘128749’.
The dress was then reduced to £49 in the sale.
Sabrina says that the last two digits of the codes are what shoppers should keep an eye on, as this reveals how much the item will be in the sale.
The codes can also reveal when a sale is near, as staff will have been prepping the labels for the sale.
Retail consultant Katie Woodhead said: “Look at the tags and take note if anything is scribbled on there.
“Sometimes they might mark ‘S’ or ‘C’ on there, which could mean sale or clearance.”
Katie also advised shoppers to look at the displays of the items in a shop, saying: “When they go into sale, instead of being set out in nice displays and collections, it starts to be by product type.
“So all the tops are together, all the jeans are together, because that’s the way shoppers will browse these items.”
Catch up with Christmas Sales: Supershoppers Special on All4 now along with the rest of the Supershoppers series.
