It is easier said than done - "Breaking retail's addiction to discounting"! Its not just lack of leadership it is often lack of common sense. Retail has dug its own grave training shoppers and consumers to shop on deals and leadership in retail is often short-sighted without deep understanding of brands and engagement with shoppers inside the store.
Kate Newlin puts forth some interesting points (her example is not new and neither are her points, they are from her 2006 book - Shopportunity):
1. If we're a clothing retailer, we have to hire fashionista/passionistas.
A genuine passionista (of whatever retail genre) is excited about the merchandise not because they're told to be, but because they are excited by it. How can you tell? One of the aspects of finding passionistas is that their avocation is also their vocation.
2. We have to brand the experience, differentiating on elements of style and design.
The most salient emotional benefit of shopping is to feel "lucky," as women describe it over and over. Knowing that feeling lucky is the emotion women desire from a great shopping experience, we can empathize with retailers who try resort to the short cut of price promotion, which surely can elicit the "lucky" response. However, it's those folks who work harder and more creatively to prompt the "I'm lucky I found it" reaction through enhanced shopping experiences who win social as well as financial capital.
3. We have to change the tone, acknowledging that the customer knows the economy is in free-fall.
What customers want is to have a unique proposition. When we bother to do that through service and support or any of a hundred valid means, we automatically de-average price.
