What’s your sale story?

Should retail sales be sexy, or is it ugly that really sells? With EOFY on the horizon, Alex Moore explores what the deal is.

Sales are a constant now. Miss one this week, there’s another one just around the corner. It’s not necessarily a good thing.

Part of the problem is that we’ve conditioned consumers to wait for a bargain. Why spend $380 on a pair of New Balance Supercomp Elite v5’s today, when tomorrow they’ll be $250.

The other glaring issue of sale ubiquity is that they’ve become meaningless. Undifferentiated.

Same offers. Same stories and language. Same colours and visual reference.

These days, Black Friday stands out as the only major sale event on our calendars, offering a slightly different story (helped by absolutely mental discounts). While previously anticipated sales events like Boxing Day, Christmas, and indeed EOFY often revert to the comfort of sameness.

In such a commercially important moment, when standing out makes a real impact, does it make sense to be so generic? Or does the perfectly bland sale recipe exist for a reason?

With EOFY sales hitting soon, let’s unbox what’s going on.

 

Traditional sales work – for good reason

There’s no denying it. In the complex, competitive world of retail, sticking with the status quo works.

We know consumers are overwhelmed with decision fatigue. So, they look for shortcuts and appreciate anything that makes any decision easier. Especially when it comes to shopping and finding a deal.

Sometimes easier means plastering your shop window with big SALE lettering on a red background. Or generating excitement for a clearance event with CLEARANCE across everything, in-store and inboxes included.

Just look at how some of Australia’s leading retailers approach their promotional activity.

Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Target, Rebel, when they’re running a sale, it hits you right between the eyes. And you’re drawn in because the message is clear, story or not. You know the brand, your item is cheaper, that’s all that matters.

This standard of communication is effective because consumers know what a sale looks and behaves like. Avoiding language and design elements that are instantly recognised as ‘sale codes’ does more harm than good.

It also streamlines your marketing.

Planning becomes simplified, allowing teams to easily map seasonal activities and sell periods without confusing terminology.

And by dusting off the same sales playbook, you’re spending less on ideas, creative and third parties, so you can put greater investment towards improving your customer experience.

Still, it makes for pretty boring communication. Surely sales can and should be elevated above average.

 

Do sales need a makeover?

There’s an argument to be made that in this attention economy, standard sale and promotional tropes just don’t cut it anymore. To really drive people in-store or online, retailers need to rethink their sale strategies and communication to stand out.

Think less shouty and undifferentiated, more on-brand and customer-centric.

One way to do this is to tap into storytelling. A stronger, more relevant story could help elevate a typical sale into something memorable and enduring.

Take Officeworks and its ‘EOFYthing’ campaign from a few years back.

It had all the hallmarks of an EOFY sale campaign done well. A fun and unique name. A clear story centred around a customer need. Messaging and language that went beyond the norm and became part of the nation’s lexicon (at least for a little while).

It stood out for many reasons, but principally, because people connect with stories and humour.

But here’s the thing. Yours doesn’t have to be an amazing story (that Officeworks is the place for an EOFY bargain isn’t a stretch). Or even funny at all.

Your story just needs to be relevant to the real value you provide. Aligned to your brand character. And simply better than ‘this fridge is cheaper now, but not for long’ which most sales rely on.

However, does this approach ignore the burning reality of sale action as a lever to meet targets, move stock and make way for new season goodies? Perhaps.

 

Luckily, there is a happy middle

Yep, generic sales messaging is important.

But as the battle for attention intensifies, there’s also great opportunity for retailers to explore new and interesting ways to communicate their sales. To not do away with tropes that work, but to enhance them with customer-centric storytelling that taps into real motivations and emotions.

Here’s the rub. Shopping. Is. Fun.

It affirms how we want to live in a big way. From new shoes to a refreshed living room, what we buy reflects our ideal selves. At its core, it’s an emotional pursuit.

By not reflecting this truth during sales periods, retailers are missing a moment to connect with their customers in more relevant ways, when the commercial imperative is at its strongest.

So, what’s your EOFY sale story? Beyond tax-time hot takes, there are so many to pull from.

Maybe it’s about new beginnings or resolutions, it’s a new (financial) year after all.

Maybe it’s about refreshing your wardrobe for the colder months ahead, or pre-planning a summer camping trip.

Whatever it is, find your relevant customer insight, express it through your brand character, and combine it with your hardest-working sales assets.

That’s how you turn a promotion into a memorable moment that actually resonates and leaves an impact. For your customer, and your business.

 

 

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This article first appeared in Inside Retail. 

Alex Moore is Associate Strategy Director at our in-house brand language studio, XXVI. 

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