A little bit of housekeeping here ……

Right I’m now sat in the strange place  ……… first and foremost I always see myself as a shop girl I love the shop floor and I have a passion for product and give me a customer and some product I’m a happy lady – what makes me unhappy is discounting.

I hate working the sale – I hated those peculiar customers who would come just for the sale , sharp elbows and camp in the fitting room and you never , ever saw them other than sale time – they never bought full price – bottom feeders.

Now we are fast approaching 2012 and we have been in this recession since around May 2007 but the last Government didn’t say anything “officially” till the December of 2007 … so we are talking of four full years of recession, belt tightening and a change of government and that strange thing by the treasury called quantitative easing any how I’m not some great economist but I do know retailing and customers.

So since March 2010 we have been blogging full time and suddenly you see things with different eyes and you’re seeing businesses go to the wall and it’s like hey hold up there ……… people need to take the blinkers off and get with the programme- the internet is not killing the High Street – the High Street is killing it’s self with shabby town centres and tatty shops and discounting – yes discounting is what is killing sales not increasing them!

I think the most decisive thing about 2012 will be the discounting and people are going to have to either be full time cheap stock or you set the price and you discount twice a year and not this on off on off discounting.

This is the stupidity and maybe I am thinking in simple terms but hey just stand back and listen – first off if your clothing is cheap and it’s fast fashion and aimed at the under 25+ year age group then great just discount away and chop your slim margins to nothing chasing that fickle consumer who cruises the internet looking at bargains all day. Why not just set the right price and sell it and when you’re down to the last few call it “last chance to buy” see what happens – one think I bet sales don’t fall off a cliff and your margins are not shredded.

If you’re not the discount end and you spend a fortune on your shops and the fitting rooms and you have models in your ad campaigns and you project a certain image then can I ask why on a weekly basis your shoving discount codes to affiliates and if you type your brand in Google it auto suggests the word discount so to me all your image and money spent on advertising is for nothing – plus this whole discounting is counter-productive as the consumer thinking two things – the first if they have just bought and then suddenly see a flash sale with a 20 or 30% off they are annoyed and feel a mug second if you’re getting a reputation for discounting then they just wait and it becomes a blinking match and we both know the customer wins.

In my humble opinion when you do this discounting all you’re doing is appealing to the bottom feeder / sale bargain bagger and not your loyal customer who would normally buy at the start of the season and top up as the season progresses .. So why not do a deep intake of breathe and quit the discounting – go cold turkey ……. Seriously if you have a great mid-market brand why are you discounting all you’re doing is pissing off the once loyal consumer and attaching some cheap shot who is in effect trading up on the cheap and will never come back and you’re eating into your margins.

So 2012 should be the year folk get off the fence your either cheap and a discounter or you’re not and to add to this WE never mention discount on the blog Mrs.D doesn’t do sale directories or mark downs as I don’t want bottom feeders reading my blog ……… there said it I’m not a cheap girl !