Incentivizing customers through discounts (Feedback needed)

Thanks for replying.


I will pay very Close Attention to the exact wording of the slogan, that's for sure. I just wanted to outline the general idea behind the measure, but I agree with superowid and visimedia. My aim is not confuse or mislead customers, far from it. I wouldn't consider the bundle "overplaying the Discount strategy" though, since some of our biggest competitors offer a firm 20% Discount all year, on everything, including our product, So we're basically just trying to sell a slightly different approach.


Professor, you've made some fair points. The charity shouldn't overshadow our product, after all, we're offering the biggest selection of high quality slippers on the web. If we have to think about throwing in the kitchen sink, it's not because our product is inferior, it'll be due to the fact that our competitors started it .


The sole connection between our product, our company and the charity would be a regional one. We were thinking about supporting regional charity projects, so there probably will be some kind of story connecting the product (manufacturer is also based here) to the charity. I mean if zappos offers to donate a part of their proceedings to let's say saving the rain forest, there isn't a Connection either. Still, it might Appeal to some People because they feel that stopping global warming concerns them too. So the question seems to be more along the lines of "what Kind of charity are People willing to contribute to?". Why would an international audience care about supporting some charitable cause in lower saxony. This might indeed be an off-putting factor, but we haven't decided on the charity yet, so it might well offer a universally beneficial theme and still be regional.


I also agree that the charity shouldn't be tied to the discount package. Maybe 1 out of 10 bucks should simply go to a charitable cause (which we'll introduce to the customer), without tying it to the proceedings of the package. Our product is well liked across the world and we have, so far, been selling it successfully (for 25 years) in Germany and Europe, but the international market is a different kind of animal and requires a different kind of approach.


Interesting replies Gents, thanks a lot.

For a small company, hanging your hat on a discount ticket is just locking yourself in a race to the bottom. You'll struggle to compete with larger companies and end up throwing away your profits. Maybe it's just me, but I've never seen slippers as a commodity product. I'm not sure price is the main driver. And do people tend to come back for second, third, fourth pairs of slippers?

Okay, now we're getting to a marketable USP.

Sole. Slippers. I see what you did there. But for an international launch, a regional charity promotion isn't likely to help sales much, if at all. Some kind of sponsorship deal with a related and popular brand or event in your targeted territory would be a better bet. At this stage in your expansion, my instincts tell me that a focus on quality, style and selection would be more successful than any price-led campaign.

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