What "up to 70% off" really means
The oldest trick in sale copy, and how to read past it.
"Up to 70% off" is one of the most common lines in South African retail, and one of the most misread. The key word is "up to". It describes the single deepest discount in the sale, not the discount on the rail in front of you.
How the maths actually works
If a sale has a thousand items and exactly one is 70% off, the retailer can still advertise "up to 70% off". The other 999 might average 20%. The headline is true and almost useless for predicting what you will pay.
Our own tracking makes the same point with live numbers. Across the 6,636 deals we have tracked long enough to judge, the typical badge says 55% off, while the median real saving against the price each item actually held is only about 0% (R0). Roughly 62% of the deals we can verify save you under 10% against the price the item normally holds, whatever the sticker says. The headline number and the usual outcome are not the same thing, and "up to" is the phrase that keeps them apart.
Why the deepest cuts are usually the leftovers
The items with the biggest discounts are often the ones that did not sell: odd sizes, unpopular colours, end-of-line stock. The 70% rail is real, but it is rarely where the thing you want is sitting.
What to check instead
Look at the actual price of the actual item, then at its history. A modest discount on something at its lowest-ever price is a better buy than a huge discount off a number that was never real. That is the whole reason we keep the history.
