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Ok ok, we see discounts and sales left right and center, literally all the time. Especially with things like Black Friday or Boxing Day or basically holiday right.
What is the purpose of a sale? To clear out old stock, to move a product that hasn't been selling, to entice people to buy and then make the profit margins up from the add-on products, to entice people into a shop, to bring in new customers, to sell something. Sales are a form of marketing to encourage your customers to buy or do something you want them to.
But, what does it do to your brand perception? Well, it could lower the perception of your brand. Done too often, people will wait for the sales before they buy from you. It could lower the perception of value of what you offer. It could also mean a race to the bottom, if everyone in your industry starts discounting their product or service too. On the pro side, it could bring in new clients that otherwise wouldn't have spent with you. It could help promote a certain type of product or service that you offer. Because let's face it, a huge majority of people, like a good sale right.
Now when we look at retail shopping we see this all the time. Middle of the range electrical or furniture stores or even our supermarkets have sales. In the case of the supermarket it's just a few dollars off here and there. In the case of electrical goods or furniture sales it's often a percentage off. Then there are stores that are just straight low priced all the time, like Kmart. And then, there are the stores that don't often have a sale, it's not expected every week that something will be on sale, because they're more of a luxury brand. You might buy from them less often, but when you do, you feel like you've truly brought something of status and value. Then we could even look at restaurants, some have combos or the daily lunch deal and others have the weekly special, which isn't necessarily any cheaper but it's something delicious they've added to the menu for a limited amount of time.
But do you ever see it with services and trades people? Not so often right. When we look at each of our businesses individually, is your business more of a low quality or low price all the time model? A middle of the range, happy to through out a discount to close a sale? Or a luxury brand, that doesn't discount because it doesn't have to? Or are you are an artist or tradesperson, providing a service that consists of cost of goods as well as running your business as well as your time and that of any of your staff or contractors? Or are you like a classy restaurant, that doesn't have a fries and a drink combo but has instead, a deliciously beautiful meal that it only offers for that night or week?
Each one of these businesses has a different way of advertising or marketing their offerings. And that type of marketing differs depending on the business model they have and the products they offer. Whether those products are something that is needed, what part or parts of the Hierarchy Of Needs does it meet and how probably even their marketing budget.
What kind of business do you want to be?
What will you discount, if anything?
How will you market your business?
