Bodybuilding.com BOGO Policy Changes: Too Little Too Late?

An anonymous tip rolled into the PricePlow tipline this morning, with the following news:

BOGO Offers are about to change at Bodybuilding.com

The rumor is that

Starting December 1, Bodybuilding will no longer allow BOGO offers on full-size tubs on three main categories:

  • Protein
  • Pre Workout Supplements
  • Post Workout / Recovery Supplements

BOGO50 deals seem safe for these, though – but we’re not sure about B2G1‘s. Certain exceptions for crazy promos will hopefully be made.

Preventing “pantry loading” and other issues

Buy One Get One Free Supplements

Rumor has it that Bodybuilding.com is changing the way they do BOGOs on our favorite types of products

The rationale seems reasonable enough from their perspective – BB.com likely wants to “smooth out” their revenue (this is our guess) by avoiding “pantry loading” (supposedly their words).

The changes will probably also prevent people from re-selling the tubs at a later date, in addition to any other problems that arise from such sales.

Changing buying behavior?!

One alarming phrase we were told about had something to do with “change the buying behavior of our customers”, but that’s all we know.

Ultimately, this will lead to more consistent traffic for the site, which means more traffic, yielding more ad sales, etc.

What about BCAAs?

Back to the product mix, we’re unsure if standard BCAA supplements are considered “Recovery” supplements. If the rumor is true, we would guess that they are not and should be safe for BOGO.

Will PricePlow be affected?

From our perspective, nothing changes on our BOGO / BOGO50 / B2G1 pages.

If this does hit in December, there will likely be more trial size tubs on the BOGO page from Bodybuilding, yet less full size tubs.

Liberty Interactive Corporation Bodybuilding.com

What’s next for these guys, and where will we find the next batch of hot deals?

The other stores running BOGO technology with us will continue to do what they do, although Bodybuilding was admittedly the one that ran the most BOGOs on full tubs of protein – something we’ll miss dearly if this rumor is true.

We monitor by unit price

Meanwhile our supplement deals page (the most popular of them all) will continue to look for good deals at price per serving or price per gram of actual protein thresholds. If that deal comes from a trial size tub, then so be it, but the criteria remains the same.

We’ll reach out to our contacts at BB.com to try to get confirmation. Until then, if you see any BOGO protein / pre workout deals October or November, jump on them before it’s all over!

Conspiracy Theory Time: Ryan DeLuca’s Resignation?

Although we highly doubt that a change like this was a primary contributor, the timing of this rumor (which supposedly began on Oct. 1) and the resignation of 17-year CEO/Founder Ryan Deluca on October 5th is certainly eyebrow-raising.

One can wonder if changes like these were part of the straws that broke Ryan’s camel’s back… but in all likelihood, he was probably planning a secession long before any of this. We have literally zero connection to the situation, but the timing of all of this is interesting, no doubt.

Stay in the loop

Times are changing, but we’ll continue to find you hot deals one way or another.

Ultimately, can you blame consumers for loving great prices and offers?! Should that type of ‘behavior’ ever be changed? Not in our humble opinions.

If you agree, head over to our supplement deals and sign up for deal alerts, or monitor your favorite products, categories, or brands on PricePlow.

Thanks for the deals

We’d like to thank the team at Bodybuilding and all of the generous brands for providing such incredible offers on protein and pre workouts over the years. We hope the true “price per serving” or “price per gram of protein” will stay low, since that is ultimately what really matters.

About the Author: Mike Roberto

Mike Roberto

Mike Roberto is a research scientist and water sports athlete who founded PricePlow. He is an n=1 diet experimenter with extensive experience in supplementation and dietary modification, whose personal expertise stems from several experiments done on himself while sharing lab tests.

Mike's goal is to bridge the gap between nutritional research scientists and non-academics who seek to better their health in a system that has catastrophically failed the public. Mike is currently experimenting with a low Vitamin A diet.

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