Zero percent off! A crash-course for maximising peak season profit.

There are plenty of online retailers out there, worrying whether they’ll still be here this time next year.

At this time of year, with the next few weeks due to deliver a significant proportion of annual turnover, the pressure is never greater to squeeze that extra pound out of your customers.  Merchants up and down the country are burning the midnight oil to fine tune the promotional plan in the hope that Christmas profits will sustain their business through another year.

But how many merchants find themselves accidentally training their customers to expect a juicy offer before they’ll place an order?  How many are struggling for ways to avoid having to settle for reduced-margin sales.  For many, it can feel like the dreaded discount death spiral.

Even at this late hour, there are dials you can tweak to avoid giving away your Christmas profits in the way of reduced margins.  Turning down the discounts dial is just one thing you can do.  There are dials you can turn up too – even now, when it really matters – dials that can result in more profits (more cash!) without increasing your planned order volumes.

I’m a bit of an evangelist for niche retailers adopting a discount-free marketing strategy.  And so is my colleague, Patrick Pitman, in Austin, TX.  He’s just put together a four week crash course that’ll give you creative, constructive guidance on what to do instead of pitching endless discount codes to your customers.

I recommend you check it out at Zero Percent Off!  The course consists of a series of 20 minute audio lessons with worksheets.  It’s priced at US$197 but you can actually pay what you like.  How’s that for an offer

Tags: christmas eCommerce Email marketing Marketing Niche retailers