October 17, 2011

Death Spiral: Promotional Events

I recall being at Eddie Bauer, back in 1997.  This business was entering a Death Spiral, it's just that nobody really realized it at the time.  In a meeting, our Marketing leaders were asked to create a new promotion, a "multi-channel" promotion in stores, catalogs, and the website.  I recall that the promotion was not supposed to compete with other promotions.

I recall that the Marketing Executive told the CEO ... "We have promotions on 30 out of 52 weekends, what would you like for me to do?  All we ever do these days are offer promotions to customers."

When a business is mired in a death spiral, promotions are increasingly used to prop up sales.

And over time, the promotions change in nature ... starting with gift with purchases, then a percentage off a key item, then a percentage off of all items, then twenty percent off of everything.

Log all promotions your company offered during a particular timeframe, during the past five years.  If you observe that the promotional dollars you're giving away increase over time, it is possible that your business is stuck in a death spiral.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:18 AM

    I love this post. By the way I know some about websites which content is also very well. Inspect your dearest brand name online deals here
    www.bestcouponfor.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1:07 AM

    Your content is really helpful and easy to understand and I’m grateful for your ideas. Investigate your most wated brands discount code here
    www.bestcouponfor.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice post! The article clearly explains the fact of promotional events and their growth in the marketing field. Got more information thanks for the share! Do posting!!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Upsets

On Saturday night, long after most of you went to bed, New Mexico scored what would become a game-winning touchdown with twenty-one seconds ...