Sales Strategy

You Can Stop Discounting Now. Here’s Why. December 29, 2021 (0 comments)

New York, NY—If offering a discount is your go-to strategy to close the sale when a customer hesitates, you may be unnecessarily giving away the store, so to speak.

In this article in The Robin Report, retail writer Catherine Schetting Salfino cites research from Bluecore, a retail marketing technology firm, that found only 36% of shoppers said discounts have the most impact on their purchasing. That’s not to say price isn’t important—Bluecore’s study found 57% of shoppers say price has the greatest impact on their purchase decisions—but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to knock dollars off the stated price in many cases.

““This means the majority of brands that rely on discounts to acquire customers are unnecessarily giving away margin to the 64 percent of shoppers who are more heavily influenced by other factors,” Bluecore states. The other considerations include, “relevant product recommendations (30 percent), timing of communications (24 percent), and engaging content (10 percent),’” according to the article.

Salfino says these findings jive with similar studies done by Cotton Incorporated, which found that two-thirds of today’s consumers would rather have fewer but better quality garments, and half are willing to pay more for that better quality. She cites Bluecore’s recommendation that retailers stop offering discounts that create “one and done” shoppers, and instead try more individualized offers based on customer preferences to build loyalty.

Top image: Gerd Altmann for Pixabay