After a brief yet intense romance with the daily deal and discount-based promotions, various retailers have backed off from offering blanket price reductions. Many have come to believe that discounts simply subsidize already loyal shoppers without converting new ones, and even the Harvard Business Review recognized in 2011 that race-to-the-bottom pricing strategies among competitors did little but depress profits for strained businesses.
However, this holiday shopping season may be seeing a slow revival of the deep discount – though this time they’re coming from retailers who appear to have learned from their mistakes.
