There’s a famous case study where JC Penny launched a big campaign where they wouldn’t put people thought the rat race of sales and coupons and just offer the best price at all times. Almost bankrupted them. Turns out people want the rat race.
The CEO who implemented it also was the guy who basically created the Apple Store, and thought that the very successful approach for Apple would translate into a more premium experience for a mid level clothing retailer. Important lessons were learned about how consumer behavior may differ between different items, even if the consumers are largely the same people.
Not aware of a Payless comp to this. They did have a campaign where they put their cheap shoes in a luxury pop-up store and had influencers gush about the high quality products which was pretty funny.
People don’t want the rat race anymore than we want to pay exorbitant prices for healthcare or housing or food. But making customers happy isn’t as profitable.
Think about it. If everything was always available at the cheapest possible price, what would your shopping habits look like? You would buy things exactly when you need them. If you have to deal with higher normal prices and occasional sales, then you need to plan ahead and buy when things are cheap instead of when you need them. That means buying more stuff than you need because you didn’t plan adequately and got stuff that you never ended up needing.
![[Loading Artist] Sale time](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/938df00a-c097-4fb0-9d67-e496a38cb65d.png){kind=link}
There’s a famous case study where JC Penny launched a big campaign where they wouldn’t put people thought the rat race of sales and coupons and just offer the best price at all times. Almost bankrupted them. Turns out people want the rat race.
The CEO who implemented it also was the guy who basically created the Apple Store, and thought that the very successful approach for Apple would translate into a more premium experience for a mid level clothing retailer. Important lessons were learned about how consumer behavior may differ between different items, even if the consumers are largely the same people.
I thought that was Payless shoes
Not aware of a Payless comp to this. They did have a campaign where they put their cheap shoes in a luxury pop-up store and had influencers gush about the high quality products which was pretty funny.
People want to feel like they got a good deal. Making them do a little bit of work or seeing that marked down sign gives them that feeling.
People don’t want the rat race anymore than we want to pay exorbitant prices for healthcare or housing or food. But making customers happy isn’t as profitable.
Think about it. If everything was always available at the cheapest possible price, what would your shopping habits look like? You would buy things exactly when you need them. If you have to deal with higher normal prices and occasional sales, then you need to plan ahead and buy when things are cheap instead of when you need them. That means buying more stuff than you need because you didn’t plan adequately and got stuff that you never ended up needing.