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At Tiffany & Company, executives contend that sale signs would clash with the jeweler’s reputation for timeless quality, symbolized by its signature blue boxes. "We certainly don’t engage in price promotion," Mark L. Aaron, the company’s vice president for investor relations, said in an interview.
Neiman Marcus declined to discuss the "midday dash" extensively for competitive reasons and because it is still testing the promotion. But the retailer said that so far it is pleased with the results.
That was last autumn, and in the months since, he has been inundated with similar discount offers. If a salesman does not make one, he has learned to ask.Scott Stuart was at the Bloomingdale’s store in Manhattan when a salesman sidled up to him,Tom Tom GPS, said a private sale was under way and offered him a discount on the slacks he was inspecting."In another market, I would have found it very inappropriate" to ask for a discount, said Mr. Stuart, a bankruptcy lawyer who works in New York and Chicago. "In this market, I’m finding it incredibly appropriate."Mr. Stuart is among the many consumers in this economy to reap the benefits of secret sales 鈥�whispered discounts and discreet price negotiations between customers and sales staff in the aisles of upscale chains. A time-worn strategy typically reserved for a store’s best customers, it has become more democratized as the recession drags on and retailers struggle to turn browsers into buyers.
Customers who subscribe to e-mail messages from Neiman Marcus, for instance, are regularly invited to "midday dash" sales. The two-hour, online-only sales promise 50 percent off luxury goods that can be bought only by clicking on a link in the e-mail message. Customers learn about the sale mere hours before it begins. This week’s "dash" featured a $697 Burberry handbag, marked down from $1,395. A Carmen Marc Valvo chiffon gown was $575, down from $1,150. And Cole Haan flats were $82, down from $165.
The conventional wisdom is that the more consumers who know about a sale, the better for business. But that rule does not necessarily hold in luxury retailing."When you’re selling anything in luxury," said David A. Schick, a managing director and retailing analyst with Stifel Nicolaus, "you’re selling exclusivity."Rather than post big sale signs, which can mar a store’s reputation, high-end chains are trying to unload $3,000 handbags and $800 shoes by periodically telling customers that certain items are on sale, even if the price tags say otherwise. The stores also engage in the electronic equivalent of whispering in a customer’s ear: sending select customers e-mail alerts about private online sales.
Tiffany conducted customer research that shows its shoppers would be loath to see the chain, founded in 1837, offering 20-percent-off charm bracelets and pearl earrings."We say, 鈥楬ere’s the product and here’s the price, and the price is justified,’ " Mr. Aaron said.Even so, Tiffany has lowered prices on diamond engagement rings about 10 percent, hoping to cultivate a lifelong relationship between the prospective groom and the Tiffany brand.Of course, many luxury retailers have long offered discreet discounts to their top customers. Sales associates at luxe department stores were typically empowered to give discounts of about 10 percent to customers spending upward of a certain amount of money, usually $20,000 or $25,000.In this economy, however, the discounts are "more in-your-face," said Stacey Widlitz, a retailing analyst with Pali Research. Moreover, they are steeper than in the past and available to customers spending far less than $25,000.
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