Former TK Maxx worker opens up about how to get bargains
In just 16 years, TK Maxx's sales in the UK have grown a whopping 30 percent. The retailer's success is down to how it sells branded goods for half their original price. However, the shop also has its own-brand stock - and it's difficult to tell the difference.
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TK Maxx is full of designer clothes for half - or less - the price than the original products.
But, the retailer is sneaky: among the Gucci, Calvin Klein, and Fiorelli, are TK Maxx own-brand products but with credible brand names.
The company puts these made-up brands beside the labels consumers know and trust, fooling its customers - but making more sales.
However, there are ways to check which products have come from a genuine batch on sale elsewhere for a higher price, and which have been made to order specially for TK Maxx.
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TK Maxx is hugely successful because there is no other shop like it (Image: GETTY)
In a new series called TK Maxx: How Do They Do It, Channel Five talked to various people who used to work for the retailer to uncover its "outrageous trade secrets".
Daniel Baker, a former senior merchandiser for the company, shared which codes to look our for when searching for bargain at TK Maxx stores.
Daniel revealed the "cheat codes" so that customers could be in the know when it came to made to order products and genuine "close out" buys, which means more stock was made and sold elsewhere at the original, higher price.
To do this, shoppers must look at the label on a product and look for a tiny number, without a zero in front of it, on the top right-hand side.
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This number will inform shoppers of the origin of the product. It identifies how the stock was sourced.
"The number that's really exciting as a shopper is the number two," Daniel explained.
"Because that means it's genuine stock that was sold at a higher price somewhere else, and it's excess stock or something like that.
"That's normally when you're getting the bargains, or the thing that's quite exciting."
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The retailer was described by Channel 5 as "well organised chaos" (Image: GETTY)
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The three main numbers are one, two, and seven.
One means it was made to order, and therefore produced by TK Maxx.
Meanwhile, number two means is a close out buy, "so it's a stock they got at a deal that was existing stock that's unsold from another brand", Daniel said.
"Seven is what they call packaway - which means it's been packed away from a previous year," the former merchandiser continued.
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"The real bargains you're looking for are a two and seven, for sure."
Daniel added: "That's always a part of the treasure hunt when I go into a store."
The documentary-style programme went on to explain how 60 percent of items found in TK Maxx stores are legitimate close out stock, while 40 percent are made up of its various made to order contracts.
However, that percentage may vary depending on what stocks the company's buyers can source.
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