[TrianguloY]

I've always wondered what would happen with a shop that never has sales. A shop where the prices are always the same, although they may occasionally increase them due to inflation, etc.

Such a shop will not get the surge of "oh look a discount, let me buy it" consumers, but people will probably realize that this way when you need something you can buy it on the spot, and it will always have the best price no matter when.

Does a shop like this exist, or existed?

[jasode]

>I've always wondered what would happen with a shop that never has sales. A shop where the prices are always the same, [...] Does a shop like this exist, or existed?

An ex-Apple executive who ran the Apple retail stores tried that strategy with JC Penney and it didn't work:

https://www.google.com/search?q=jc+penny+everyday+low+price+...

[rrrrrrrrrrrryan]

It actually was beginning to work. Corners of the internet where people discuss clothing and fashion trends were starting to buzz about JC Penny randomly starting to have trendier higher quality stuff for reasonable prices, etc.

I think they would've needed a another year or two of runway though to turn the ship around and court an entirely new (non-overlapping) customer base, and the investors simply weren't willing to give them that much time.

[Dylan16807]

It's a useful case study, but without a memory erasing device changing strategy like that is different from being a shop that truly never has sales.

[barney54]

I don’t know of a shop that doesn’t have some sales at some time. Sales are just such powerful selling tools.

Factorio is a counter example. Factorio never goes on sale, which is kind of nice because when you buy it you know you couldn’t have gotten a better price, but without sales you aren’t as motivated to buy it for a lower price than usual.

[wasmitnetzen]

German home improvement/hardware store chain Hornbach does that.[1] They still run ads though, quite aggressively.

[1]: https://www.hornbach.de/services/die-hornbach-dauertiefpreis...

[Der_Einzige]

Lots of shops run similarly to this in American/canadian/Japanese made men’s fashion. Example stores include Self edge, standard and strange, brave star selvedge, whites and nicks boots, etc only use sales for items that have small defects, were returns, etc.

It’s nice to see brands which refuse to play by fast fashions games and who sell their products based on their quality.

Of course, these brands will often takes weeks or months to get you your item due to the waitlists. You can’t even get on the waitlist for a ship John 24 ox Willis waxed canvas jacket because they’re back ordered 6+ months.

[pjc50]

Costco are pretty unobtrusive with their discounts. They have random coupons on things, but only for a small amount. Except, of course, for the famous inflation proofed loss leader $1.50 (£1.50 in the UK) hot dog.

[bombcar]

Business oriented stores can run this way. Places like McMaster Carr?

Walmart tried to advertise this for decades as “always low prices” which worked pretty well, but even they have clearance (need to rotate shelf space or excess inventory) and rollbacks (price matching someone somewhere).

They do not have Kohls style “50% off everything if you jump through these hoops”.

[20after4]

Walmart:

rollbacks = raise the price then reduce it and pretend you lowered prices.

clearance = stuff that's been on the shelf for years for barely discounted prices.

Their tech clearances are often ridiculous. Things like 2GB sd cards for $25, marked down from $30 but that $30 price was from 10 years ago when 2GB was considered a large sd card.

[bombcar]

Tech is worthless at Walmart; don’t even try.

But “normal” Clearance is sometimes pretty good though I’ve noticed ever since Covid it has gotten worse

[Spooky23]

It only works for things that are price inelastic. Usually luxury or more high end products. Good examples are Rolex, Apple, Sony in the old days.

Otherwise price is elastic and using price change to tweak sales when demand slacks or oversupply exists is smart business.

[robocat]

Elasticity occurs in a competitive market with variable prices - it is a property that is measured as demand and supply vary.

When a monopoly manufacturer sets the price of a good that has no equivalent, talking about elasticity makes no sense.

[Spooky23]

That's exactly the point. It has nothing to do with a monopoly - retail is all about cashflow. Walmart has 2.8% net margins, and do it with a maniacal focus on cost control and vendor management.

A manufacturer with a unique product can control pricing and manage demand. The business is the "vertical", they don't live or die with retail. Apple discounts through authorized third parties only. Rolex constrains supply, controls retail price & experience, and generates demand with the secondary market premium. People buy a watch for $15k because it's "worth" $20k. It's inferior as a tool compared to a watch that costs $50, and there's a whole spectrum of fancy watches that don't have the same cachet.

JC Penney doesn't have that. They're stuck with a warehouse full of low-margin pants and need cashflow, so they discount to get cash in, then jack the price up at different part of the demand cycle. Khakis that are $40 for back to school are $75 right now, and coupons are used to keep the cost conscious folks coming.

[averageRoyalty]

I don't know what country you're in, but most normal shops I see work exactly that way. Some have sales once or twice a year, but most don't.

[Jallal]

Speaking from France, but this is one aspect of Decathlon (retail shop specialized in sport). It has been thriving for years.

[brorfred]

I think Trader Joe's is as close as you get to it?

[CptanPanic]

This is Trader Joes