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Another wonderful Christmas has come and gone and we now look forward to a New Year in 2016! Normally, I would expound upon our year end clearance sale, and go into detail on many of the new items & collections we recently received in inventory, such as our beautiful new collection of diamond bracelets, or cameo jewelry. However, in turning over a new leaf, or changing with the times, or perhaps we can call it a New Year’s Resolution, I have decided to go into a different subject:
THE FOLLY OF SALES & “DISCOUNTS”
Retailers around the world, including OROLATINA®, must now make room for their 2016 Merchandise.
Interestingly, customers (the general public for the most part), are often not able to distinguish between a retailer and a discount-retailer and a retailer who, because of a simple lack of overhead (like most Internet-only retailers), set prices very low. Customers are of course, naturally drawn to bigger and bigger discount advertisements (such as 80% Off), more than they are to advertisements purporting smaller discounts (20% Off). Most retailers deliberately create an inflated number, that no sane human being on even an above average budget would purchase items for. Then they discount the merchandise by 50/60/70/80% to get to a number where many, if not at least some, can not only afford the item, but the customer also receives a perceived value and it makes them feel like they “got a deal”. This makes a person wonder, who, if anyone, did purchase the items at full price, or at less of a discount; and by extension, allowed themselves to be fleeced by the very business they are patronizing?
OROLATINA® prices most of it’s jewelry, THROUGHOUT THE YEAR (every year for the past 10 years), at or near 50% off of Retail (also known as Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price, or MSRP). This means, even when there is/was not a specific sale being advertised, our customers are ALWAYS receiving approximately 50% off of retail store prices on quality gold jewelry, diamond jewelry and gemstone jewelry. Therefore, when OROLATINA® runs a 20% off sale, items are then actually priced at 60% Off Retail Store Prices. For example, the MSRP let us say that a 14K Gold Men’s Masonic Ring has an MSRP of $1000.00. The every day price on OROLATINA.com® is then $500.00. If OROLATINA® runs a 20% off sale, the ring is now priced at $400.00 (or 20% of $500.00).
Many retailers, in an effort to “one up the other”, inflate the MSRP to a ridiculous number so they can publish an 80% Off Sale, still make a profit, and not be found advertising falsely. We found our most recent 20% off sale (Christmas) to be a bit of a disappointment. We discovered that website visitors (prospective customers) are typically unaware of this “Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other” scenario; and only those who were looking at “Pricing per Gram” were able to differentiate the difference between our pricing and our competitors pricing, and then made a purchase on OROLATINA.com®! In fact, until the past year, OROLATINA® NEVER ran a sale or ad campaign indicating a special “sale” of any kind. Our efforts were mainly focused on customer service, product selection, and search engine optimization (SEO). Paid Marketing and generation of marketing materials, until recently, was put to the side.
Unfortunately, OROLATINA® does not have the budget to educate the entire world on the Folly of Sales & Discounts and Retailer Pricing; and therefore in the future, we will adhere to a legitimate, more industry standard approach to our marketing of products and discounts. We will continue to have the same every day low pricing, which fluctuates with the 2nd London Fix Price of Gold (the market price of gold); only our marketing statements & value proposition will be communicated differently.
It pleases us that the customer base we have developed over the past 10 years is one of educated jewelry buyers who recognize value and take the time to divide the price by the weight, and then compare their results to the offerings of our competitors. It is unusual for any retailer to compete with our pricing, and as it happens, the large the retailer, the less likely they are to be able to compete; another concept that is seemingly counter-intuitive. This only becomes more difficult for the consumer when the offering of the retailer cannot be properly compared, such as with items only offered (or seemingly only offered by) the one retailer. In this case, comparison is impossible. Historically, we have had a mix of these experiences with our customers, because many of the items we carry are generally not carried anywhere else. We plan to continue refining our inventory to create a selection that continues to evolve towards an OROLATINA®-branded uniqueness, hence our recently trademarked slogan “From the Chic, to the Unique®”
From all of us in the OROLATINA® Family, to all of you and your families, we wish you peace and prosperity in 2016!
Happy Holidays!
The OROLATINA® Family
Up to 80% Off Retail Store Prices! Free Insured Shipping! 30 Day Money Back Guarantee
The Folly of Sales & "Discounts", and the OROLATINA® New Years Clearance Sale ;)
