The retail industry continually devises sales strategies to encourage customers to spend, and we have seen a number of ways in which the industry has tried to entice consumers to part way with their hard earned dollars. Consumers are targeted with programs that ‘bundle’ products and offer ‘free goods or services’, coupons, discounts and loyalty schemes to encourage repeat purchases, offering chances for customers to win competitions, enter into ‘lucky draws’, etc.
This creativity and variability of the retail marketing experts can be a nightmare for the accountants trying to prepare the financial report of a retailer. This nightmare is likely to worsen under IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers.