Marketing
fromEntrepreneur
13 hours agoHow to Prove Your Worth to Cost-Conscious Customers
Businesses must clearly demonstrate their value to consumers facing economic pressure to maintain sales and customer loyalty.
Within roughly the past six months alone, Swiftly expanded its alcohol rebate programs from about 11,000 stores to more than 33,000 stores in 44 states. Swiftly had built an alcohol cashback product in 2023 but scaled it through the acquisition of alcohol promotions platform BYBE in 2024.
Estate sales typically last for three days over a weekend: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Since sellers are eager to move product, they will often discount items as the days progress. Friday is full price, Saturday is 25% off, and Sunday is 50% off. This can vary, depending on the estate sale, but since the ultimate goal is to clear a space and sell as much as possible, you can usually count on steeper discounts the longer the sale continues.
In its earnings report yesterday, The Gap reported the following for its fourth quarter, which ended January 31, 2026: Net sales: $4.2 billion (up 2% year over year), Net income: $171 million, Diluted earnings per share (EPS): $0.45. Unfortunately for the company, these results were either in line with or below expectations.
Profit margins at the world's largest luxury goods companies have almost halved in just three years, prompting calls for more disciplined cost management that preserves brand equity while restoring profitability. Research from supply chain consultancy Inverto, part of Boston Consulting Group, shows that the average operating margin across the 20 biggest luxury groups has fallen from 24 per cent in 2022 to 13 per cent today.
To achieve ambitious targets during continued economic uncertainty, marketing strategies must evolve and adapt. This begs the question: how do we need to adjust our plans to better serve our consumer's needs? Let's first hone in on the biggest challenges we're currently facing as an industry. Understanding your customer and their needs Consumer shopping behavior is vastly different now than in 2019 and, while looking back on past data is still essential, we can't use it as robustly to predict trends.
The Depop acquisition gives eBay access to Gen Z shoppers-90% of Depop's users are under 34-but the company needs to fund that growth by cutting costs elsewhere. EBay is essentially trading current employees for future market position-a risky move that shows how intense the e-commerce competition has become.
Sensible businesses will be scrutinizing outgoings now more than ever. With clients looking to claw back profits eroded by spiralling inflation, marketing investment (not to mention your fees) will be up for debate, whether you like it or not. Frustratingly, validating the success of marketing investments is becoming more difficult. We're facing an attribution crisis, and many marketers are struggling to prove the value of each channel or campaign due to the numerous challenges brought about by increased privacy constraints,
Specifically, the technology that helped retail brands sell unsold or excess products (off-channel inventory) wasn't as sophisticated as it could have been. Brands sell their excess inventory at discount retailers like Nordstrom Rack, but often lose money because managing unsold inventory is difficult. Products are spread across warehouses, and teams are left guessing the value of an item and when the best time to sell it is.
If you're feeling anxious about the economy, you're not alone. Consumer confidence is at its lowest in more than a decade. Americans are worried about inflation, a possible recession, and job security-and that anxiety is reshaping how they spend. Even high earners are pulling back. Households are cutting big-ticket indulgences like vacations, fine dining, and designer fashion and redirecting spending toward essentials like groceries and personal care.
Markup is how much you add to your cost to get your selling price. If something costs $10 and you sell it for $15 , you added $5. That's a 50 percent markup on your cost. Where people get confused is that markup isn't the same as margin, even though the terms get used interchangeably all the time. Margin measures profit as a percentage of the selling price, and markup measures it based on your costs. Same dollar, different percentages.
Saks OFF 5th is closing its Assembly Row store in Somerville and its outlet in Wrentham as its parent company, Saks Global, files for bankruptcy. On Thursday, the company announced it will shutter most of its Saks OFF 5th locations and all remaining Last Call stores, shifting its focus to luxury retail and full-price operations. The company began closing sales at certain Saks OFF 5th stores starting Saturday.
Private equity giant Carlyle has thrown a £150m lifeline to online retailer Very - just as mounting debt threatens to sink the company. Sources say the refinancing deal will keep Very afloat, giving breathing space to a business grappling with sky-high borrowing costs, fierce competition, and a cash-strapped consumer market. An insider commented: "Without this deal, Very could have faced serious trouble. Carlyle is betting big to save its investment - the stakes couldn't be higher."
Given that ParkerBrand had allocated greater resources to paid media, higher performance objectives were set for 2019. Overall, the goal was to grow revenue rapidly over a short period of time whilst maintaining the return on ad spend (ROAS) to remain profitable. This translated into the following objectives: Achieve a minimum of 10:1 ROAS "Grow revenue as much as possible" from a year-on-year perspective