Pricing

Last week, former flash-sale site Fab.com laid off an additional 101 workers in an attempt to shed its former deal-oriented identity and to help position itself on the path to profitability. It's clear that consumers are tiring of the flash-sale model because what used to feel special no longer does and the sales these sites offer are starting to feel fishy. As one Gawker commenter points out, plenty of "deals" are nothing of the sort. 

It's difficult to think of many retailers with which Amazon.com doesn't compete. Despite what's seemed like a friendly relationship, office supplies retailer Staples may be preparing to take aim at the e-commerce giant during the holiday shopping season. An EcommerceBytes reader forwarded part of a survey Staples is conducting about the effectiveness of various advertisements. One question shows two ads and asks which one would make the respondent shop Staples more often — the ad with the words "price match guarantee" or the ad with the words "We'll Match Amazon's prices."

Apparel and accessories label Rebecca Minkoff is boosting digital promotions for its fall 2013 collection to target its younger, digital-savvy customers. The label is placing a large emphasis on its digital promotions for this collection, which it has also been sharing on social media. Promoting new collections through digital platforms can help brands reach target consumers in a cost-effective way. "It is not unusual for a brand to focus its attention on one media over another, to measure the results and adjust the

J.Crew has been plotting its U.K. expansion for a while. The company launched a U.K. website in 2011, and later this year it plans to open its first store in London. But the Sunday Times discovered something curious about the British version of J.Crew: the same clothes are offered at prices much higher than at the U.S. J.Crew. Around 40 percent higher, on average. If you browse J.Crew's website with the country set to the United Kingdom, you can see this price difference for yourself.

When it comes to retail pricing strategies, customers are giving retailers the clear message that they get satisfaction out of tracking and finding the best prices. We may not understand why, but it's enough to know that it exists. Ask J.C. Penney. The retailer "lost" its customers by taking the thrill out of the chase. "Maybe Shoppers Don't Want ‘Fair and Square’ Prices After All," wrote Time's Brad Tuttle in an article about the hard lessons Penney's learned over the last two years. 

As retail brands evolve into omnichannel organizations, sharing and integrating data across channels has become critical to their success. In a session yesterday at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Chicago, Stephanie Scheele, senior director of strategic intelligence for Vera Bradley, a retailer of fashionable handbags, accessories and luggage, discussed how the brand is using data collected online to dictate in-store pricing decisions. Scheele specifically focused on Vera Bradley's recently launched baby collection.

Amazon.com yesterday launched its virtual currency program, dubbed Amazon Coins. To kick things off, Amazon is providing all Kindle Fire owners with 500 free Amazon Coins, which are worth $5. "You can use the coins to buy apps and games, as well as items inside apps and games," Amazon said in a note on its homepage. Amazon also said Amazon Coins are available to purchase at a discount, for savings of up to 10 percent depending on how many coins you purchase.

Mickey Drexler, chairman and CEO of J.Crew, talks with Willow Bay from the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles about price pressure on brick-and-mortar retailers from e-commerce sites offering better value on merchandise.

In its simplest form, J.C. Penney's new sales plan is to raise prices on select items and mark them down periodically with sales and coupons. While there's nothing inherently wrong with this model, consumers should be aware that prices have spiked significantly on collaboration lines, and we've yet to see any sales to bring them back down to previous levels. 

Just about every day, a shipper asks me what FedEx or UPS incentive they should be achieving for their specific spend level. But it doesn't work that way. While overall volume and revenue certainly play a role in pricing, the discounts you get from UPS and FedEx are largely based on their understanding of your distribution footprint and package characteristics, which are directly tied to the carriers’ "cost to serve" pricing models.