To have a sale....or not?

What are your thoughts on having a sale? Or discounting your wares?
What do you do with items that have been around for a while and haven't sold?

It's a vexed question?
Are you devaluing all your hard work?
If you often have a sale, do your customers wait for you to reduce your prices - does it discourage them from buying at full price?

At the weekend I was at a big country market that happens twice a year and as we will be moving soon I decided to see if I could sell more of my stock (so that I don;t have to pack it).
I offered 25% off all my jewellery, that wasn't already discounted.

I made a couple of sign, maybe they could have been bigger...
I also mentioned my discount to customers (or potential customers!)

Did it work?
I don't think so, for these reasons.

1. People seemed to buy what they wanted to anyway. If they like it - they will buy it.
2. Mentioning that I was having a sale and why didn't seem to spur people into a shopping frenzy.
3. When I didn't mention the sale they still purchased an item.
4. They sometimes seemed surprised that they were getting a cheaper price.

I think a couple of customers perhaps bought another item or two, but it's hard to know as they may still have done that.

Overall the day wasn't bad but I can't help thinking that I did myself out of a quarter of my takings by having this sale.

Ah well, you live and learn.

A rest and a discount

I'm having a bit of a blogging rest - it's that time of year isn't it?
I think that a lot of people are having a bit of a rest at this time of year....going away on holidays or just chilling at home.
I feel that not too many people are reading blogs at the moment - apart from you!

It's a great time of year for looking back over this year and looking forward to the year ahead.
Assessing and evaluating what you did, what happened, what you enjoyed, what you would do differently....
Planning for next year (and have we got some big changes happening here!)....thinking of future projects, changes to be made, things to do.

How did you go this year?
Are you going OK?

What on your horizons for next year?
Any New Year's resolutions set yet?

I'll be doing this is the days to come - thinking and planning.

And I'm offering a store-wide discount in my etsy shop.
Here.
Just type in the code: NEWYEAR2014 at checkout and you'll get 25% off.
But only until 4th January....so be quick.

Welcome back! I'm having a sale.

Going away and off-line for a whole month is hard when you are running a business, so as a little notice that I'm back and I'm in business, I'm offering 20% off across the board in my etsy shop.

amethyst and pearl necklace

You just need to enter the discount code WELCOMEBACK1 at checkout.

Have you done your Christmas shopping yet?

What are you waiting for!