MGR eCommerce Edge Weekly | October 9, 2020
Top News This Week

Succeeding Without Heavy Discounts this Holiday Season

So many brands rely on Black Friday weekend and the holiday season to bring in a huge chunk of their annual revenue. They entice buying in this period by offering deep discounts not available any other time of year. The challenge is this has trained their customers to hold off buying for many months leading up to the holidays, this inevitably leads to very slow Septembers and October for many.

This problem could be exacerbated by the tough year many have already gone through due to COVID. Expect to see deep discounting like you’ve never seen before as brands and retailers attempt to make up for lost sales from Q2 & Q3.

However, many brands are rebelling against this trend, especially in the premium and luxury categories. They instead are opting for alternative approaches that still bring in strong holiday sales without training customers to not buy in the months leading up.

One strategy fashion brands have used is to create specific holiday collections, items in this collection will be on sale, but items from the rest of the year will have prices remain the same. This allows customers to buy from brands at a discount, but also makes clear that items released earlier in the year will not be cheaper in the holidays.

The strategy the companies like Nike employ is one of discounting the poor sellers. Every brand releases duds, it’s inevitable, and sitting on unsold inventory is painstaking. Use the holiday time to deep discount those items to get rid of them, but keep your best sellers at their regular prices.

 

Other Notable Links:

1. Fashion resale site, Poshmark, is going public – BOF
2. The new localism, is local the new luxury? – SOCIOLOGY OF BUSINESS
3. Snapchat launches ‘Ad Bursts’, a new high-frequency option that seems to be performing well – DIGIDAY

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