Embrace the Early Start of the Holiday Shopping Season with These Deal Strategies

Price Promotions, Coupons, and Deals Win Even Earlier This Holiday Season

As we approach the holiday season, it’s clear that inflation, the return of student loan payments, and stagnant incomes are significantly impacting consumer spending habits. While inflation has experienced a notable year-over-year decline, a staggering 92% of consumers, particularly those in the middle-income bracket, are tightening their belts.

To capture shoppers’ attention this season, retailers must get creative with price promotions, coupons, and deals. It’s no longer a nice-to-have; it’s the key to unlocking success. In fact, nearly half, or 49%, of consumers have affirmed that price promotions are pivotal in influencing their holiday shopping purchases. This influence is particularly evident in specific product categories: Clothing, Shoes, and Jewelry lead the way, followed by Electronics and Beauty & Personal Care. Even traditionally less discount-driven categories like Grocery and Home & Kitchen are showing a significant influence this year.

Recognizing the importance of deals, retail giants like Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Kohl’s, and numerous others have intensified their promotional efforts. Striving to entice shoppers weary of inflation, retailers now offer bigger and better deals earlier than ever. Amazon leads the charge with its Big Deal Days event, pulling holiday shopping well into October. The e-commerce giant also recently announced its 2023 Black Friday event — an 11-day sale that takes the traditional Cyber 5 to a new level. Other Black Friday events have already begun. Walmart will offer three Black Friday events this year, with Event One starting November 8th. Target’s Black Friday deals began even earlier on October 29th, where customers can price match using Target’s Holiday Price Matching Guarantee. And Best Buy’s own Black Friday deals followed shortly after on October 30th.

The Power of Coupons and Deals: How to Reprice the Right Way

With over 43% of consumers stating coupons and deals impact their holiday shopping decisions, the art of presenting attractive discounts and crafting compelling promotional offers, such as bundling or adding gifts to purchases, becomes indispensable in capturing the attention of budget-conscious shoppers.  

To navigate the new shift in shopping patterns, though, retailers and brands must ensure that their pricing strategies can sustain the prolonged shopping season. Special events like Cyber 5 often trigger price conflicts as sellers compete for consumer attention through discounted offerings. With the holiday shopping period stretching further, pricing wars as a sustainable strategy becomes even less viable.

Rather than focus on offering the lowest deals, sales, and promotional strategies, retailers must adopt a new strategy to accommodate shifting consumer behavior. The key will be to not only entice consumers to make a purchase but also to make them feel a sense of added value and satisfaction. Simultaneously, retailers must ensure their discounts stand out amongst the Black Friday chaos without getting sucked into a price war.

To avoid price erosion and brand reputation damage, utilize AI-powered price optimization technology to strike the right balance between demand and pricing — like Feedvisor’s AI-powered Repricer. 

Instead of solely emphasizing the lowest pricing to outshine competitors, Feedvisor’s technology expertly chooses the ideal prices and monitors the market’s response, including that of consumers and other sellers. This approach ensures you can strike the perfect balance in offering competitive holiday deals while preserving profits and bolstering your brand’s perception among consumers.