Have You Trained Your Customers to Wait for the Sale?

Breaking the Fall Discount Cycle and Recovering Margin

Last week, we looked at the impact fall markdowns can have on profitability—and why seemingly small increases in discounting can require substantially more sales just to generate the same gross profit.

But there’s another side to the margin problem.

What if years of fall discounting have actually changed the way your customers shop?

For years, I’ve divided retail customers into three general groups: the coupon shopper, the impulse buyer and the scavenger.

The coupon shopper likes an incentive. Give them a reason to visit—a coupon, loyalty reward or special offer—and they’ll respond.

The impulse buyer sees something they want and buys it. They fall in love with the hydrangea in bloom, the perfect Japanese maple or a beautiful combination for the front porch. Price matters, but desire matters more.

Then there’s the scavenger.

The scavenger waits.

They’ve learned that 20% off may eventually become 30%. Thirty percent may become 40%. Wait long enough, and they may be shopping a 50%-off clearance sale.

Which raises an uncomfortable question:

Did we create the scavenger?

Customers Learn From Us

Think about the messages customers receive as summer turns to fall:

20% OFF. 30% OFF. CLEARANCE. END-OF-SEASON SALE.

When customers see the same pattern year after year, they learn from it.

Why buy that $49.99 shrub today if experience suggests it might be $34.99 in a few weeks?

Eventually, even customers who once purchased at regular price discover there’s an advantage to waiting.

Traffic slows, so we offer a discount. Customers learn to expect it. Regular-price traffic slows further, and we respond with a bigger discount.

At some point, discounting stops being a tool for clearing excess inventory and becomes the marketing strategy.

Change What You Reward

Breaking the cycle doesn’t mean eliminating promotions. The opportunity is to change what you reward customers for doing.

Instead of:

“All Perennials 30% Off”

Try:

“Buy Three Perennials and Receive a $15 October Garden Reward.”

Both provide value, but the second encourages a purchase today while creating a reason to return.

Instead of:

“Trees & Shrubs 25% Off”

Try:

“Fall Planting Event — Free Local Delivery with a $250 Tree & Shrub Purchase.”

You’ve created an incentive without reducing the selling price of every plant in the department.

Other possibilities include fall garden bundles, loyalty rewards, planting consultations, limited-quantity specials and future-purchase certificates.

The promotion remains. What changes is the behavior being rewarded.

Give Customers Another Reason to Buy

Independent garden centers have an advantage many retailers don’t: most of what you sell isn’t simply a commodity.

Customers aren’t just buying a three-gallon shrub. They’re buying privacy around a patio, color outside the kitchen window, a pollinator garden or a tree their family may enjoy for decades.

Fall provides plenty of reasons to buy. Cooler temperatures make gardening more comfortable. Warm soil supports root establishment. Mums, ornamental grasses and fall containers refresh tired landscapes. Trees, shrubs and perennials planted now can provide years of enjoyment.

Those are all marketing messages.

Unfortunately, “30% OFF” is easier to put on a sign.

If every email, social post, app notification and store sign talks about price, we shouldn’t be surprised when customers become price-driven.

Not Everything Needs to Be on Sale

There will always be inventory that needs to move. The key is separating an inventory problem from a storewide pricing strategy.

If certain plants are overstocked or aging, mark them down. Create a clearance area. Target specific varieties or categories.

But don’t automatically discount fresh, desirable merchandise simply because the calendar says September.

A beautiful plant in prime condition doesn’t suddenly lose 30% of its value because Labor Day has passed.

Breaking the Cycle Takes Time

If you’ve spent years teaching customers to wait for your fall clearance sale, you won’t change that behavior in a weekend.

Start gradually.

Reduce the number of broad percentage-off promotions. Replace some with bundles, services, loyalty rewards and future-purchase incentives. Increase educational and inspirational marketing. Give customers more reasons to visit that have nothing to do with markdowns.

And measure the results—not simply traffic and sales, but gross profit dollars and the amount of margin surrendered to generate those sales.

Last week, we asked garden centers to reconsider the mathematics of fall markdowns.

This week, the question is different:

What are you teaching your customers to expect?

Promotions will always have a place in retail. But recovering margin isn’t simply about raising prices or eliminating sales.

It’s about giving customers a reason to buy other than price.