Mar 22 2008
Promotion strategy in an economic downturn
Ecommerce marketers typically take a closer look at the promotion strategies of competitors during the 4th quarter holiday season because aggressive competitors may steal a substantial portion of business with the right offers. This is also true during economic downturns as marketers struggle to achieve revenue targets and are willing to give up margin to maintain market share and move inventory. Some will strive to take advantage of the downturn with the purpose of dealing fatal blows to weaker competitors.
The cruel reality for retailers is that unless you own a vertical market, you’ll need to get very aggressive and give up margin because that is exactly what the competition will do. Don’t delay because the competition is most likely eating your lunch right now. Or you can hunker down, lay off employees, cut expenses and hope things will turn around soon.
If you’re thinking about rolling out the free shipping offer again you may want to re-evaluate. It is typically the most expensive offer with the toughest ROI of your available options. Now is the time time to get creative by offering a diversity of awe-inspiring promotions and increasing your ad spend. You need to be different enough to separate your business from the competition and the standard free shipping offer may not do the job right now.
