What happens when you stop using discounts to drive sales
When did you last run a promotion?
And more importantly, was it because you wanted to, or because you felt like you had to?
For most ecommerce brands, it’s the latter. Stock builds up. targets loom. Black Friday rolls around. And suddenly discounting isn’t a strategy: it’s a reflex.
The problem is, every time you discount, you’re not just moving inventory. You’re training your customer.
That’s exactly what Danielle Pearce, founder of Merry People, has avoided for over a decade. In more than 12 years of building her premium gumboot brand, she hasn’t run a single sale. Not once.
And the interesting part? It’s not something she’s constantly resisting. It’s something her customers now expect (and respect).
Merry People doesn’t just avoid discounting; it communicates it. Customers know the boots won’t go on sale, which completely changes how they behave: there’s no waiting for a better deal. No second-guessing. No checking back during Black Friday “just in case.”
That hesitation, that silent killer of conversion, disappears naturally. Instead of using discounts to create urgency, Merry People removes the need for it altogether.
And that creates something far more valuable: Confidence.
Attract Better Customers
Discounting doesn’t just affect margin. It affects who you attract.
When customers buy because of a sale, they’re often less invested in the product. They’re more price-sensitive. More likely to churn. More likely to leave the moment something cheaper appears.
But when customers buy at full price, they’re making a different decision. They’re choosing the product, not the deal. And that distinction compounds over time.
As Simon Beard, founder of Culture Kings, puts it, discounting can mean “trading down”: attracting less loyal customers while frustrating your best ones.
Merry People has made a clear choice about which customers it wants. And then built the business around them.
Let The Product Carry The Price
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: you can’t hold full price unless your product deserves it.
Brands that rely heavily on discounts are often compensating for something, whether it’s product quality, positioning, or perceived value. But when the product stands on its own, price becomes a signal, not a barrier.
That’s something echoed by James Bartle from Outland Denim, who shared in his ATC episode that even the strongest mission won’t close a sale if the product itself doesn’t deliver.
The mission deepens the relationship, but the product wins the purchase.
Success isn’t just about discipline on pricing. It’s about building a product that customers are happy to pay full price for, again and again.
Danielle Pearce didn’t just decide not to discount. She built a business that doesn’t need to.
By making pricing part of the brand, she removed hesitation. By attracting the right customers, she built loyalty instead of chasing volume. And by backing it all with a product that holds its own, she made full price feel justified, not risky.
That’s the real takeaway: Holding price isn’t about discipline. It’s about alignment.
In this Playbook:
- How Merry People built a premium brand by never discounting in over 12 years
- Why removing promotions can actually increase trust and conversion
- How discounting shapes the type of customers your brand attracts
- Why the best brands break free from the promotional calendar
- And what it takes to build a product that can hold full price long-term
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