Discount means Failure
Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 12:50 am
Please note that this topic is related to single item / unit discounts not to wholesale / quantity discount concepts.
A while ago I was watching a program , an interview with some owner of clothes ( fashion ) company.
He said one sentence which I resonate with : " Giving a discount is admitting a failure " .
So how I see this applied in tea business?
Tea
vendor's failure : stocked up more than was sold so certain teas can be discounted after some time as the quality decreases ( like green tea 2nd year , black tea 2 or 3rd year..depends on processing . Dark oxidized are loosing flavor than some sun dried which actually gets better after 2nd year for example )
processing failure : 2nd batch arrived might not be as good as the 1st. one so honest vendor might put this on discount despite having a same costs as with the 1st. one. Happened to us few times and we had to "eat the bullet" .
I don't see any reason for giving any discount for tea which gets better with age like puerh, unless tea went with some storage issues ( got wet / mold or something ) .
Pottery
vendor's failure : sometimes you can miss some flaws when checking in studio / masters workshop and see those later when making detailed pictures for presentation. It is fair to write original price of good item and place some discount for those flaws.
production failure : Sometimes also can take to your shop intentionally some pottery if you feel that still can be sold for fair price with some discount ( or just like the concept / design of the item very much ) since the flaws do not affect brewing or using process. In both cases is fair if vendor point that out in description.
transfer failure : happens when pottery shipped from place of production , some part might get chipped off. If it's not affecting brewing or using, it's ok to put in discount with detailed images of the issue.
There could be cases when vendor needs or wants to sell the item for costs price just to get it out of the house and keep some customer happy but honestly I don't believe that this happens often. As a vendor it's not your intention give buyer knowledge about your costs.
We have done that few times in some exceptional cases or only for close friends. Sometimes we put in box some free cheap stuff in bigger amount than regular few grams sample we do , just to fill the box and making some sense of expensive shipping fee, but again, can't do that with every customer.
To sum all that up. If there is a product with discount without any reason mentioned above :
1) vendor runs marketing strategy - marking higher prices so after the discount still gets the originally wanted profit, but makes customer believe getting some extra deal.
2) vendor made some mistake - nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes, just some vendors do not present it as failure but rather put it as some special Xmas offer or something
Just if you thing about it. If there is an item with 60% discount , means then before you had paid 60% more and only on Black Friday or whatever day you can get a fair price. Probably most of you know that some vendors just raise the prices before those Special Days , yet I see lot's of people with reactions " I will wait for my Discount Day ! "
I also understand that there are the cases , especially this year , when business is very slow and vendor needs to tap on some marketing tools like this one ( discount ) , but it's up to the buyer having a common sense what discount is reasonable and for what items.
Please also note , this is my personal opinion coming from our retail experience. If you feel like to share more or disagree with some points, please do it in friendly discussion matter.
Thank You!
A while ago I was watching a program , an interview with some owner of clothes ( fashion ) company.
He said one sentence which I resonate with : " Giving a discount is admitting a failure " .
So how I see this applied in tea business?
Tea
vendor's failure : stocked up more than was sold so certain teas can be discounted after some time as the quality decreases ( like green tea 2nd year , black tea 2 or 3rd year..depends on processing . Dark oxidized are loosing flavor than some sun dried which actually gets better after 2nd year for example )
processing failure : 2nd batch arrived might not be as good as the 1st. one so honest vendor might put this on discount despite having a same costs as with the 1st. one. Happened to us few times and we had to "eat the bullet" .
I don't see any reason for giving any discount for tea which gets better with age like puerh, unless tea went with some storage issues ( got wet / mold or something ) .
Pottery
vendor's failure : sometimes you can miss some flaws when checking in studio / masters workshop and see those later when making detailed pictures for presentation. It is fair to write original price of good item and place some discount for those flaws.
production failure : Sometimes also can take to your shop intentionally some pottery if you feel that still can be sold for fair price with some discount ( or just like the concept / design of the item very much ) since the flaws do not affect brewing or using process. In both cases is fair if vendor point that out in description.
transfer failure : happens when pottery shipped from place of production , some part might get chipped off. If it's not affecting brewing or using, it's ok to put in discount with detailed images of the issue.
There could be cases when vendor needs or wants to sell the item for costs price just to get it out of the house and keep some customer happy but honestly I don't believe that this happens often. As a vendor it's not your intention give buyer knowledge about your costs.
We have done that few times in some exceptional cases or only for close friends. Sometimes we put in box some free cheap stuff in bigger amount than regular few grams sample we do , just to fill the box and making some sense of expensive shipping fee, but again, can't do that with every customer.
To sum all that up. If there is a product with discount without any reason mentioned above :
1) vendor runs marketing strategy - marking higher prices so after the discount still gets the originally wanted profit, but makes customer believe getting some extra deal.
2) vendor made some mistake - nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes, just some vendors do not present it as failure but rather put it as some special Xmas offer or something
Just if you thing about it. If there is an item with 60% discount , means then before you had paid 60% more and only on Black Friday or whatever day you can get a fair price. Probably most of you know that some vendors just raise the prices before those Special Days , yet I see lot's of people with reactions " I will wait for my Discount Day ! "
I also understand that there are the cases , especially this year , when business is very slow and vendor needs to tap on some marketing tools like this one ( discount ) , but it's up to the buyer having a common sense what discount is reasonable and for what items.
Please also note , this is my personal opinion coming from our retail experience. If you feel like to share more or disagree with some points, please do it in friendly discussion matter.
Thank You!