Retail disguised as tourism: the anatomy of sales show trips based on the analysis of promotional leaflets

Abstract

The Hungarian society is involved in shopping tourism both at international and national levels. For domestic and cross-border day trips, shopping has been a leading travel motivation for many years. In addition to the seductive shopping environments of discount stores, hypermarkets and shopping malls, the retail sector aims to stimulate and widen travelrelated demand by introducing alternative sales methods. One such method, outside the domain of retail outlets, is the TV-shop-style “sales show” or “product demonstration” that usually takes place in restaurants or in community spaces. In order to increase the number of participants, the companies organising product-demonstration shows usually combine these directly salesoriented events with domestic or cross-border day trips. Using the method of content analysis of promotional flyers distributed through letterboxes, this study explores the world of sales show trips. The analysis of 339 leaflets collected between 2006 and 2011 aims to demonstrate that these trips – presented as attractive travel opportunities and targeting mainly the senior-citizen segment – are, in fact, methods of sales promotion that are also included in the notion of “invisible tourism” in Hungary.

Our research has proved the hypothesis that in these trips, the “travel function” is secondary, merely meant to create the illusion of escaping one’s mundane life and to move participants to an unfamiliar space where they are more likely to make hasty, less deliberated decisions, culminating, eventually, in purchasing the products on show. However, despite the fact that the visited destinations mainly act as stages for the process of product selling, and travel may be considered a “pseudo-tourist experience”, these trips do help participants learn more about the Carpathian basin, and increase the turnover of domestic tourist and leisure companies. It should also be noted that, in addition to their economic role, these trips fulfil a specific social tourism mission, too, providing some travel and community experience for their least wealthy, usually retired participants.