Tag Archives: Discounts

Brand Promise, Perception

Apple understands how to (not) do discounts

Black Friday is the day many brands offer discounts. Strong brands, like Apple, never discount the core products.

For companies, sales discounts are a great way to boost short- term sales. It is an approach with guaranteed success. Even people who do not need the product right away might buy because of the great discount. Like with everything, there is a flip side to discounts.

1. Postponing purchases
Consider carefully discounts for products that are not fast- moving consumer goods but substantial investments for consumers. Consumers can often wait to make the purchase when it is not highly necessary. It is not uncommon for people to sleep on the old bed a few months longer and wait for a good discount.

2. Creation of artificial purchase cycles
Some companies run discounts during specific times of the year. When consumers know about the cycle, they will wait for the following discount round. The brand has unwillingly created an artificial purchase cycle.

FujiFilm is a company with artificial purchase cycles. The company runs pretty steep discounts on its cameras and lenses in spring, summer, and winter. People who are in the FujiFilm camp make purchase decisions three times per year. If the desired products are not on sale in the current round, chances are the dream kit will show up in the next round.

3. Abandonment of retail prices
Discounts reduce the suggested retail sales prices of products in the mind of the consumer. Once buyers have seen a printer in a special offer for US$69, they won’t pay the US$99 suggested retail price ever again. Getting the product cheaper has now become a real possibility. The discount helped the short-term sales but made the brand and product positioning weaker.

 

The alternative to discounts
The best alternative to discounts is to provide perks around the core product. For example, a brand known for its leading Music composition software should not discount the core product, the What of the brand. Instead, it should provide extra perks around the core product like giving a plug-in or sound bank for free.

Apple follows this strategy. The company hardly ever gives direct discounts but turns discounts into Apple Gift cards. Of course, the Gift Cards are to be used in the Apple Stores.

Perks are a great way to give people ‘a good deal’ while in their minds, the value perception of the core product has not changed.

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This post is taken from my new book Win With What – the first category-led growth book.

Brand Promise

Strong brands do not need discounts

The impact of discounting products on the short and long term. 

The Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales are almost over. Consumers who got some deals are happy, and so are businesses. 

For companies, sales discounts are a great way to boost short term sales. It is an approach with guaranteed success. If you want to increase the sales bonus, then start offering discounts! When your product is in demand, you will notice that even people who do not need it right away might buy it because of the deal. 

Like with everything, there is a flip-side to the discount deals craziness – I like to call them deal traps, and here they are:

Postponed purchases of higher value items in general

If your product is NOT a fast-moving consumer product but a substantial investment for consumers, you must consider any possible discount you are providing. Imagine if I am in the market for an expensive bed, I could easily wait till Black Friday to purchase if it saves me 30% of the new price. Believe it or not… people are willing to wait till the next round of discounts. And at the same time, they do know the room to negotiate.   

Artificial purchase cycles, esp with higher value items 

A great example of this discounting is FujiFilm. In Spring, Summer, and Winter, they run pretty steep discounts on cameras and lenses. Now how often do people buy cameras and lenses? If you are in the Fuji camp, you should make your purchase three times per year! And what happens when a camera or lens is you like to purchase is not on sale? Then wait -if you can- till the next seasonal offers. Changes are your dream kit will show up at some point. 

Suggested retail prices do no longer exist.

Discounts reduce the suggested retail sales prices of the products in the mind of the consumer. Once you have seen a printer in a special offer for 69EUR, you won’t pay that 99EUR suggested retail ever again. Perception is why strong brands never engage in discounts – because discounts perceptually make the brand and product positioning weaker. 

Apple only recently engages in discounts, but they are never direct discounts – always in Apple Gift cards, to be used in the Apple Stores. You pay the full price and get rewarded with Gift cards. This way, the value perception of the product in the mind of the buyer won’t change.

So, what is the alternative to consider?

Never discount your core product but provide perks around it. For example, if your business is, let’s say, Music composition software, then never create a deal on the software. Instead, provide perks and packages of items people get when they buy the software. For example: buy the software get a plugin for six months for free. 

Whatever you do, keep in mind that strong brands never do discounts and never need to do discounts.