Fashion retailers in Australia are simply devaluing their brands with a seemingly unrelenting reliance on price discounting. In Melbourne we have not yet officially hit winter but many of our fashion retailers are hitting the ‘sale’ panic button. In the past week I have had the pleasure of purchasing jeans and pullover from Saba at a 30% discount. This discount was not simply available on those two items, it was available on all menswear items. The interesting thing is that I went to store specifically to get the items, not knowing the sale was on. I am a loyal customer, the very thing that brand equity is based on. They traded off 30% in gross profit margin and did nothing to make me think that I had specifically been rewarded for my loyalty – as it was a discount available to all.
