exHowfener wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 4:09 pm
If some of the luxury watch brands had consistent sales
But don't most of the luxury brands sell through AD's? So they don't need to soil their hands with discounts, they have people to do that for them. And they get their price whatever the AD sells it for.
I think this is the nub of the debate here. In virtually every product market available there are discounts to be had on initial list pricing. Very, very few brands are able to maintain 100% full price / zero discount pricing policies and these are usually very high end, low volume, high margin brands.
Personally I only know of three broad retail markets where a discount is almost always available in one form or another (as in 'free' stuff with a tangible value instead of a price reduction): Automotive, musical instruments & watches. I'm sure there are lots more but these three are among the most obvious.
Walk into a large shopping centre and ask for a discount at the till in most shops and they'll look at you like you're crazy. Find yourself a jeweler or watch dealer and it's totally 'normal'. There's almost always something they can knock off in the store. Guitar shops are identical - having run one for several years I'm happy to say that virtually no-one buys a new/used instrument without asking for a discount or a free set of strings, strap, case etc.etc.
The difference with CW is that they don't have these ADs to negotiate on a case by case basis or to, conveniently, discover that something can be discounted by 10% as ex-display.
Therefore all CW are doing is carrying on the same pricing and discount policy as the bricks & mortar high street retailers. In the modern world everyone expects a bargain and some sort of discount. CW are completely upfront and honest about making them available on a regular basis.
It's clear from other brands that this is a necessary 'evil' to be successful. Look at Trubus as the latest example. They launched with a 10% discount to everyone and then said they'd never offer price reductions - only loyalty rewards. To get those rewards all you have to do is log in to their site once a week & they'll give you an increasing discount. They just call it something else as a marketing ploy. Interesting to see that it's already failed them and they are having to offer 25% off their flagship pieces almost as soon as they are available to purchase.
To say a brand has devalued itself by offering fair prices to their customers seems entirely counter-intuitive to me.
Maybe the people who think this are regular visitors to Harry Enfield's 'I Saw You Coming' store in Notting Hill. . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVvcD4Czx4Y
About 6 Christopher Wards, Omega, Tudor, Halios, Breitling, Bremont, Rado, TAG Heuer, Nomos, Hamilton, Sternglas