This may sound like an oxymoron, but not all sales are cost saving. Sometimes prices are raised from the normal store price in order to offer a "sale" priced item. For example liquidator sales are conducted by a liquidation company and the sale price is a percentage of what they consider a normal price. One news program did research on a local liquidator sale and after peeling off the "sales" sticker, found that the price the store had been selling the item at was considerably less. Do your homework before you go to these sales and have an idea of what normal prices are. It's a little easier these days with having internet access on your phone to compare prices.
Also, sometimes new stock is brought in to boost sales and they also are marked up to full retail price.
See CNN news report here
