Discounts Only Take Business Halfway

In the thick of the holiday season, local business owners are confronted with the discount culture that we not only live in but are quick to play along with. Sales, deals, discounts and price cuts have become the way of the American business culture, or so it seems.

In her recent book, “Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture,” author Ellen Ruppel Shell opens with the following statement that should send chills down the spine of any business owner:

“This book is about America’s dangerous liaison with Cheap. In a market awash with increasingly similar — even identical — goods, price is the ultimate arbiter, the lower the better.”

While you may think the discounting or the “sale culture” Americans have been taught to respond to is the real issue, I believe it’s little more than a red herring. Discounting is a symptom of a much deeper and systemic issue that stems from a lack of distinction and differentiation among competing firms.

Read the rest of the article in the Green Bay Press-Gazette.