sale S1 W1 /seɪl/ BrE AmE noun
[ Date: 1000-1100 ; Language: Old Norse ; Origin: sala ]
1 . [uncountable and countable] when you sell something
sale of
The use and sale of marijuana remains illegal.
Harvey gets a $50 commission every time he makes a sale (=sells something as part of his job) .
Car salesmen will often bring down the price rather than lose a sale (=fail to sell something) .
arms sales to Iran
2 . sales
a) [plural] the total number of products that are sold during a particular period of time:
Britain’s retail sales (=all the things sold to the public in shops) jumped 3.2 percent in April.
sales of
Sales of automobiles are up this year.
We did not reach our summer sales targets.
The company no longer releases its sales figures (=how much money it makes or loses from sales) .
in sales
We grossed more than $500,000 in sales last year.
b) [uncountable] the part of a company that deals with selling products:
She found a job in sales.
a sales manager
a worldwide sales force of 1,100
3 . for sale available to be bought:
Excuse me, are these for sale?
There was a ‘for sale’ sign in the yard.
Reluctantly, they put the family home up for sale (=made it available to be bought) .
4 . on sale
a) available to be bought in a shop:
A wide range of postcards and other souvenirs are on sale in the visitors’ centre.
Stephen King’s new novel will go on sale (=will begin to be sold) next week.
b) especially American English available to be bought at a lower price than usual:
These gloves were on sale for only $9.
5 . [countable] a period of time when shops sell their goods at lower prices than usual:
Marsdon’s department store is having a sale this week.
the sales British English (=when all the shops have a sale)
I picked up some real bargains in the January sales this year.
6 . [countable] an event at which things are sold to the person who offers the highest price SYN auction :
a sale of 17th-century paintings
7 . sales drive/campaign when a company makes a special effort to try to increase the amount of its products that it sells:
a new sales campaign
8 . sales pitch/talk the things that someone says when they are trying to persuade you to buy something
9 . (on) sale or return British English if a shop buys something on sale or return, it can return the goods that it is unable to sell
⇨ ↑ bill of sale , ↑ jumble sale , ↑ point of sale
• • •
COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 1)
■ verbs
▪ make a sale (=sell something as part of your job)
A salesman may communicate perfectly well with a customer but fail to make a sale.
▪ lose a sale (=fail to sell something)
Harry lost the sale because he was not persistent enough.
■ adjectives
▪ a quick sale
He wants a quick sale, so he might reduce the price.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 2)
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + sales
▪ strong (=good)
The company has reported continuing strong sales.
▪ disappointing
Sales for the first three months of this year were disappointing.
▪ record sales (=better than ever before)
The Ford Fiesta has achieved record sales in Italy.
▪ car/ticket/book etc sales
Car sales have fallen every month for the past two years.
▪ annual sales
The company has annual sales of over $300 million.
▪ worldwide sales
Worldwide sales of wine are increasing.
▪ retail sales (=sales of things to the public in shops)
The volume of retail sales was 0.3 percent higher than in the previous quarter.
▪ export sales (=sales of things to other countries)
Export sales rose for the sixth consecutive month.
▪ high-street sales British English (=in shops in towns and cities )
Last month saw record high-street sales.
■ verbs
▪ sales increase/rise/grow/go up
Sales rose by 9% last year.
▪ sales fall/drop/go down (=become lower)
European sales have fallen by 12%.
▪ sales improve
Sales are expected to improve over the coming year.
▪ sales soar (=increase quickly and by a large amount)
Computer sales soared as prices continued to come down.
▪ sales slump (=decrease quickly and by a large amount)
Meat sales have slumped following the most recent health scare.
■ sales + NOUN
▪ sales figures
The company said its sales figures continued to show growth.
▪ a sales target
It achieved only 20% of its sales target.
▪ the sales force (=the people who sell a company's products)
The sales force had grown from 40 to 270.
▪ sales performance (=how much a company sells)
There has been an encouraging improvement in sales performance.
▪ the sales forecast (=how much a company expects to sell )
The sales forecast is for a 12% increase in sales over the current year.
■ phrases
▪ an increase/growth in sales
The company is expecting a 20% increase in sales next year.
▪ a fall/drop in sales
Some jobs may be cut following a big drop in sales.
▪ the volume of sales (=the amount of goods a company sells)
Because of its high volume of sales, the company can keep prices low.