Schnäppchengier – Auf der Jagd nach Billigangeboten

The camera crew accompanies bargain hunters on the prowl for the best deals and visits the Swabian bargain-hunting mecca of Metzingen with these eager shoppers. The camera is there when extreme shoppers haggle over cell phone contracts in downtown Munich or go on a bargain hunt online. For example, Sheel Sethi. "I'm not stupid"—the 24-year-old has adopted the advertising slogan of an electronics discount store as his own. He "never pays full price" when he's out on a bargain hunt. Price comparisons and aggressive haggling are "completely normal" for the textile business graduate of Indian descent. Sethi has tried everything to snag computers, CD players, or brand-name clothing for as little money as possible. "Smart shoppers," is what market researchers call people like Sethi. Always trendy and equipped with the status symbols of the multimedia age, they are the prototype of the modern bargain hunter. Smart shoppers don't raid the bargain bins; they want quality at low prices. With their discerning purchasing habits, they represent the "avant-garde of the new marketing era." The Mecca for bargain hunters lies at the foot of the Swabian Alps. With 42 companies at 30 locations, Metzingen boasts the highest density of factory outlets in Germany. No other town has embraced direct sales so completely, no other profits so much from the advantages and capitulates so readily to the disadvantages as this small town at the foot of the Swabian Alps. On Saturdays, the influx of customers clogs the town even before nine o'clock. An entire town lives in rhythm with the ebb and flow of bargain hunters. The massive onslaught of bargain hunters is still something the residents near the former US military airfield in Zweibrücken are getting used to. In 2001, Germany's largest factory outlet center opened in this Palatinate town. For the first three days alone, the operators have prepared for 70,000 visitors. In so-called designer outlets, clothing manufacturers like Bogner and Versace offer second-hand goods or items from previous seasons at up to 50 percent off the regular retail price. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Program Title: Bargain Hunting – On the Hunt for Cheap Deals Program: ZDF Report Writer and Director: Reinhold Rühl Camera: Arno Trümper Editing: Ingrid Gruber Commissioning Editor: Heiner Gatzemeier First Broadcast: March 30, 2001 Viewers: 4.59 million