Interesting point made on a panel by Megan Regard Walsh, email marketing manager for Williams-Sonoma: What happens when the economy gets healthy again and shoppers have become accustomed to heavy
discounting?
It may then be hard to put the genie back in the bottle. As a result, Williams-Sonoma has been careful to avoid what so many other retailers have turned to: sending out emails
offering significant discounts.
"What's going to happen in six months when everything is full price and people have been trained to look for a discount all the time?" she said after the panel.
So in order to move product during the recession, Williams-Sonoma has taken to sending emails with special offers such as a free gift with a purchase (though with some of its higher-end items, it
has offered discounts to stay competitive).
Even as it tries to avoid discounts -- partly not to hurt its brand equity as a premium retailer -- Regard Walsh said staying away from discounting
is tough, partly because of the competition. "In the new economy, price is a determining factor for everyone," she said on the panel.