Promotional Tracker: May 16 - May 22

It’s a big scary promotional world out there and it seems like everyone is throwing their hat into the ring. So, knowing that everyone is always on sale, how do you know who to watch to stay on top of sales and promotions? Luckily, the promotional retail world is part predictable and part a game of follow-the-leader. Top-level retailers typically set the bar for the promotional scene and can give a better sense into what is happening in the promotional market in the US . Therefore, if you identify the key players, then you can understand the trickle-down effects on the rest of the retail market.
Who are these key players? To begin with we can break it down into three groups to watch:
- Key Mid-Market Retailers
- Department Stores
- Key Activewear Retailers
The top players in each of these markets will influence competitors in their respective spaces. Additionally, these market segments tend to be the most promotional, as opposed to luxury who has firmly established price-positioning far away from the promotional landscape. If we identify the first piece, then we can see the full domino effect of promotions. Luckily, we can help you out with that.
Who was on sale?
Knowing there are hundreds of retailers out there letting you know of their sale, we took the same approach in narrowing our focus. For instance, we know that the average promotional value in the total market was 39%. But to understand what this number really means, we have identified some of the top players in the three market segments that are best to look further into. Here is an example from this past weekend:

###How did they show customers? We know that the promotion itself is only one piece. To get the full picture we also must look at how it is communicated to customers. In this case we identified homepages and emails from top department stores and mid-market retailers to understand the scene that is being set.
###What did this past weekend teach us about promotions? That we don’t have to look at everything and anything to truly get a sense of what is going on. While the promotional market can be scary at times, a focused look at market segments and key players can help make things a bit easier to manage. So fear not promotional warriors, amidst all the chaos there is a clear path to making your sale times a bit smarter.Want to hear more about how we can help do that? Check us out here.