Just lately I have witnessed a lot of small businesses conducting sales.
That’s great .. nothing wrong with that all the major retailers are having their ‘summer sale‘. Sales are a great way to clear out stock especially if your products are seasonal, or you have stock that doesn’t sell well, … but is it a sale if your business constantly offers ‘discounts‘??
25% off, 50% off, free item when you spend £X, free delivery … if your business is tweeting or Facebooking these things on a regular basis …. then that’s not a sale!
Remember your branding and how you come across to potential customers.
- You devalue your products with continuous discounts.
- Your potential customers will not believe your products are worth full retail price.
- If you sell wholesale to trade … you are actually undercutting them which is bad practice.
- “Know your worth and stick to it. Be proud of what you produce even if you brick it every time you tell some one the price!” (Laura Renton – That’s Sew Laura)
- You will struggle to sell at full price leaving you with peaks and troughs in your sales
Sales are useful if they are used in the right way.
As usual I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions. Do you agree or disagree??
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Hi Joanne –
Great points – when is a Sale not a Sale? When it’s always ‘on’ I suppose is the answer.
A sale, as you say, is a great way to raise interest (or flog loads of last season’s clothing. I’m not mentioning Next, or any period around Christmas or New Year here, or my wife….
But you have to, by definition have periods when you are not in a Sale period or Promotion. That is where Value kicks in. And perceived Value is more important I think than Sales.
With Sales the company offering the Sale runs the risk of sliding down that slope – from being perceived as a premium company, to being perceived further towards the ‘bargain basement’ company.
Next (damn, I did say it) know it’s worth their while to run a little of this risk, as they are a middle of the road company, with millions of customers, and will be left with millions of pounds worth of stock in the warehouses if they don’t shift it before Spring.
I can’t think of the last time my wife pressured me into accompanying her to a Gucci or Prada sale. Even Nike don’t do it from what I know, and that’s just a decent running trainer.
I’d agree with the general point you make above – don’t devalue what you are worth. Value is the key. Finding the right clients is how to realise that value into revenue for your business. Clients who need what you have will pay reasonable fees for your product or service. It’s just a case of finding them, then helping them realise what your are truly worth 😉
Many Thanks,
Darren.