As we enter the heart of the holiday shopping season, experts say if you’re not at least 40 percent off you’re nowhere.
This Christmas shopping season is shaping up to be one of the most promotional in retail history but new findings show that unless your prices are showing at least 40% off you’re not likely to get the customer’s attention.
"Unless you are getting a 40% discount, you are just getting an everyday discount that you can get any other time of the year," said Jharonne Martis, London Stock Exchange Group's director of consumer research, during an appearance on November 27 on CNBC’s Worldwide Exchange show. The group said that because deep discounts – ranging as high as 35 percent – have become so common all year round shoppers won’t pay attention to anything less for their holiday purchases.
And how are retailers doing so far in hitting that 40-off mark? Martis said his group’s study found that the average discount on Cyber Monday – the day after the Black Friday weekend – was 38.4%, up from 37.6% on the same day a year ago. He said shoppers are most likely to get the best deals at department stores, clothing stores and at local malls.
The problem for retailers coming down the holiday home stretch is trying to continue to top the deals they’ve already been doing in their pre-Christmas promotions, many of which started as early as October. Combined with the high inflation rates of the past 18 months, it’s created enormous challenges for retailers in December.
"Inflation has definitely caused the consumer to become a bargain hunter," Martis said. "Retailers moved a lot of those sales earlier than usual, and then it became one big event culminating on Cyber Monday."