Holiday sellers favor clearer value over bigger discounts, business owners say
Six retail and e-commerce leaders converge on transparent, predictable offers, though some create bundles while another raises prices.
Edited by Jenn Moon, Editor at Featured News · Roundup by Featured · Nov 10, 2026
Black Friday 2026 sales had already begun by November 5, The Buffalo News reported, putting holiday promotions in front of shoppers weeks before the traditional shopping rush.
Business owners share specific changes they made to holiday pricing or promotions for shoppers wary of discounts.
Perspectives
We use a low flat-fee shipping strategy; temporary peak-season rate increases concern us, particularly during the holiday season. However, in our experience, carriers have moved away from traditional rate sheets and now use dynamic pricing models, with shipping rates changing multiple times per week. I've noticed these increases affecting online shoppers, especially when purchasing lower-priced items under $20. In some cases, I've seen shipping costs that are half the price of the item or equal to the item’s purchase price. Customers may notice that shipping rates fluctuate from week to week and month to month. With the current economic conditions and ongoing inflation, I've noticed customers are paying closer attention to the total cost of a purchase, including the product price, shipping, and additional fees, and comparing their options before completing an order. In response, we implemented a low flat shipping fee of $6.50 on all purchases, with the option for customers to pay a higher rate for faster delivery. In our experience, this approach has reduced cart abandonment caused by unusually high shipping charges. Customers know exactly what they will pay for standard shipping, regardless of their location. The flat-fee model is also significantly more sustainable for our business than offering free shipping.
In my experience, prices in jewelry are often artificially inflated just so they can be discounted. We show actual costs, and these are true costs, not inflated figures. If we do a sale, it comes from our margin, not from the consumer. What we changed: We created something called the Transparency Manifest, with our protocol fee, where everything is disclosed. Every product page shows what the gold, the stones, the labor and the shipping actually cost, plus our protocol fee, which is what we make. The difference, from what I've observed, is that people are curious. I've noticed they are spending more time on the site, playing around with it. We hope it will eventually lead to conversion and trust. We did this just about two months ago, so we are only starting to see the fruits.
What I’m doing differently this holiday season is I’m offering holiday-themed, limited-edition value sets of existing popular products. For example, the Sleigh Brows kit: $64.95 against a $112.94 stated value — the kit is the promo; nothing inside it is discounted on its own. I’m also offering a free gift with every order, with no minimum purchase. I often offer promotions like 20% or 30% off, but I wanted to offer a really great holiday set that offers a more enticing value.
Rather than trying to one-up everyone with increasingly ridiculous Black Friday deals (starting weeks early), I took away a promotion this year at our custom-embroidered T-shirt, hoodie and polo business. Rather than layering on even more promotions, coupons, sitewide sales, etc., this year I've opted to highlight our one consistent discount code for 15% off, in March, in November, whenever! There is no minimum order required, and I offer free shipping on orders over $150, plus free logo previews before production. Especially with custom products, I've noticed that our customers tend to be a bit skeptical, so instead of adding on more promotions and eye-candy (countdown clocks, blinking banners), I'm opting for simplicity and consistency. Rather than a flurry of promotions with constantly changing discounts, I'm banking on our customers appreciating (and trusting) one consistent discount. After all, who really believes "up to 60% off"?
We sell personalized message-card jewelry, and this holiday season I did the opposite of what most stores do. I raised my prices instead of discounting them and don’t plan on lowering them back down. To me personally, it isn’t a good representation of your store or brand if you don’t believe in your products and the value they bring to someone who is receiving them. So instead of a huge discount, I made the value something they can see. Almost all of our gifts arrive with a free gift box and message card plus free shipping. To the right customer, that is real value, and the fact that our products take care of the presentation, gift and the message behind your gift simultaneously actually solves three problems at once. I think our customers really appreciate that.
This year we didn't do any holiday promos. That's the difference. I feel like people are tired of the sales, the marked-down prices, and companies raising their prices and then just offering discounts while calling it a holiday sale. So this year we're going to try no holiday sale. The price will be the same as it is most of the year, always our best price. What we did change is on the product page. Right next to the price we show that we have free shipping and no tax, and we show that we've been featured in different magazine articles. That helps build some authority with the customer.
Experts featured here are members of Connectively or HARO, Featured’s expert networks.