Stores loose money on Boxing Day sales?

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by fishytime

Comments like LFSs are raping you are really inflamitory......If you shopped somewhere that inflated their costs just to discount it for boxing day then you shouldn't support that shop...... If you feel that their prices are too high then don't shop there...... There are things like overhead, employee wages, livestock losses that all have to be factored in to the price of everything in the store.... I mean, geez maybe the LFSs shouldn't have boxing day sale if we are gonna get raked over the coals for making money for the rest of the year?.... The sales are for the customers and while yes they still make a profit on some things on Boxing day, other things, they break even or even take a loss on

Boxing day isn't for making money. It's for building brand awareness and brand loyalty. So that the customers that you satisfied on boxing day will come back many times over the following year

if i had a store of any kind, i'd sell everything at cost on boxing day. take as many customers as possible from the competition.

[Lampshade]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

Boxing day isn't for making money. It's for building brand awareness and brand loyalty. So that the customers that you satisfied on boxing day will come back many times over the following year

if i had a store of any kind, i'd sell everything at cost on boxing day. take as many customers as possible from the competition.

The only part against this is that there's little competition on boxing day. It's not like the futureshop/visions, etc that have one every block. Pretty much everyone in the lower mainland was at JL's or King ed's, then headed to either OA or OC. So as long as you're not out to lunch on terrible prices, a 10% off would draw people in just as much as a 20%+. This boxing day i spent a couple hundred bucks on random crap, and figured I'd saved about $40, definitely staying home and shopping online next year.

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by Lampshade

The only part against this is that there's little competition on boxing day. It's not like the futureshop/visions, etc that have one every block. Pretty much everyone in the lower mainland was at JL's or King ed's, then headed to either OA or OC. So as long as you're not out to lunch on terrible prices, a 10% off would draw people in just as much as a 20%+. This boxing day i spent a couple hundred bucks on random crap, and figured I'd saved about $40, definitely staying home and shopping online next year.

But stores should be completely for customer loyalty. There's about 6 LFS in Edmonton and I basically deal with one of them now. A year ago I would spend a whole day driving around to all of them trying to find one I liked and trusted

[Nate]

So many assumptions made in this thread. Ive been on every side of this industry and it really is amazing at how some of these stores keep their doors open. Margins on many items are ridiculously low.


Some People are throwing numbers out there without seemingly having a clue.

[Mrfish55]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

So that the customers that you satisfied on boxing day will come back many times over the following year.

Having worked in retail for too many years I can honestly say you get more P.Od customers from Boxing day than you do happy ones, long lines, limited stock, cranky customers fighting to save a few bucks, like I mentioned before, the sale is just a good opportunity to unload excess Christmas stock and make room for new product. Personally I hate boxing day shopping, I will pay the extra few bucks and avoid the crowds or shop online.

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by Mrfish55

Having worked in retail for too many years I can honestly say you get more P.Od customers from Boxing day than you do happy ones, long lines, limited stock, cranky customers fighting to save a few bucks, like I mentioned before, the sale is just a good opportunity to unload excess Christmas stock and make room for new product. Personally I hate boxing day shopping, I will pay the extra few bucks and avoid the crowds or shop online.

I loved boxing day from a salespersons point of view. I'd sell someone a door crashed tv and give them my card. 60% of the time they come back at a later date to buy add ons.

[BlueWorldAquatic]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

Boxing day isn't for making money. It's for building brand awareness and brand loyalty. So that the customers that you satisfied on boxing day will come back many times over the following year

if i had a store of any kind, i'd sell everything at cost on boxing day. take as many customers as possible from the competition.

I'd hate to say that, but I totally disagree.

The prime example is Big Al's Salt special. They use it as a loss leader, but many of the customers that showed up for it did not buy anything else. I was there in the morning and I saw a lot of people that would not shop there normally any other time of the year.

We can lower prices when our suppliers give us special deals (drystock), during holiday times, as they want to reduce their stock. Livestock prices almost never fluctuate during the year.

As for a store that increases prices just before these sales to show the special markdowns, buyer beware.


As for markups, they are needed to keep all stores in business. There are too many expenses to even name, everone gets a piece of the pie before we even see the products. A good guestimate of operating costs a store needs to make is at least $500 a day (Profit) to break even per day.

I remember this time last year, a canreefer said they can bring in pepermint shrimp and sell the from his house for $2 each, I told him I'd buy 500 alone for my store. That sale never happened, I wonder why?

LFS's are completely different than any other retail outlets, other companies can close for a week and do nothing and their inventory remains the same, try that with a LFS and you walk into a room as if someone just stolen from you. Apples and oranges people

Just my opinion..

Ken - BWA

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by BlueWorldAquatic

I'd hate to say that, but I totally disagree.

The prime example is Big Al's Salt special. They use it as a loss leader, but many of the customers that showed up for it did not buy anything else. I was there in the morning and I saw a lot of people that would not shop there normally any other time of the year.

We can lower prices when our suppliers give us special deals (drystock), during holiday times, as they want to reduce their stock. Livestock prices almost never fluctuate during the year.

As for a store that increases prices just before these sales to show the special markdowns, buyer beware.


As for markups, they are needed to keep all stores in business. There are too many expenses to even name, everone gets a piece of the pie before we even see the products. A good guestimate of operating costs a store needs to make is at least $500 a day (Profit) to break even per day.

I remember this time last year, a canreefer said they can bring in pepermint shrimp and sell the from his house for $2 each, I told him I'd buy 500 alone for my store. That sale never happened, I wonder why?

LFS's are completely different than any other retail outlets, other companies can close for a week and do nothing and their inventory remains the same, try that with a LFS and you walk into a room as if someone just stolen from you. Apples and oranges people

Just my opinion..

Ken - BWA

exactly a year ago on boxing day. i went to big al's and bought a bucket of salt and started my first saltwater tank. i've spent thousands of dollars since then.

if not for the discounted bucket of salt, i may have never even switched to saltwater. im sure theres plenty of people that you dont know. i meet people with saltwater tanks on a weekly basis that dont know that any other saltwater store other than big als even exists in edmonton.

[BlueWorldAquatic]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

exactly a year ago on boxing day. i went to big al's and bought a bucket of salt and started my first saltwater tank. i've spent thousands of dollars since then.

if not for the discounted bucket of salt, i may have never even switched to saltwater. im sure theres plenty of people that you dont know. i meet people with saltwater tanks on a weekly basis that dont know that any other saltwater store other than big als even exists in edmonton.

That special doesn't retain customer loyalty though, they would have been bettter off selling it through the back for people that just wanted salt. Would have reduced the bottleneck at the register.

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by BlueWorldAquatic

That special doesn't retain customer loyalty.

it gets people in the store.

i bet there are just as many people with tanks that arent on canreef than there are on canreef.

before i joined canreef i never knew about any other saltwater fish store other than big als

*edit* i agree, putting a doorcrasher at the front is retarded, the point of a door crasher is to make the customer to as far into the store as possible. not in and out without having a chance of seeing other things