Prime Day runs today and tomorrow, and a small store should not match its prices. Email existing customers, show the advice and service you include, offer pickup, and make offers that do not depend on being cheapest.

Two days of deals, starting today

Amazon's Prime Day began today and runs for 48 hours, in Canada as well as the US. For two days, the largest online retailer will be advertising discounts across a very wide range of products.

Some of those deals will be on things a small store also sells. Customers will notice, and a few will ask at the counter why your price is higher.

The temptation is to cut prices for the same two days. For most small stores it is the costliest response available.

A small store competes on different ground, and this week is a good time to make that ground visible.

Why matching the price is the wrong fight

A retailer of that size can run deep discounts for two days and spread the cost across an enormous volume of sales.

A small store matching those prices loses margin on every sale, with nothing comparable to recover it from.

Price-matched sales also attract the customers least likely to come back. Somebody who bought from you because you were cheapest on Tuesday will buy elsewhere when somebody else is cheaper on Thursday.

And the timing is somebody else's. A sale pegged to their event puts your store in a comparison you did not choose, on the one measure where you are weakest.

What a small store has instead

The third matters most for anything that needs looking after. A machine bought at a discount still needs servicing, and the store that can service it has a reason to stay in touch for years.

Email the customers you already have

This is a good week to write to your own list, not with a matching discount but with something only you can offer.

A reminder that a service is due. A restock of something that sold out. An invitation to a demonstration on Saturday. A short guide to choosing well, written by whoever on the staff knows most.

Keep it short and plain. Inboxes are full of deal announcements for these two days, and a calm, useful note from a store the customer knows stands apart from them.

Send it only to customers who have consented to hear from you. A busy sales week is no exception to the rules on commercial email.

Offers that do not depend on being cheapest

An offer does not have to be a lower price. It can be more included at the same price, which costs the store far less than a matching discount.

A free first service with any machine. A lesson or fitting appointment. Assembly and delivery in town. A longer return window. Trade-in credit for an old model.

Each of these is worth more to the right customer than a few dollars off, and each depends on something only a local store can do.

Keep regular prices honest, too. Raising a price shortly before a sale so the discount looks bigger can break the Competition Act's rules on ordinary selling price claims.

A worked example

A family-owned sewing machine and fabric shop sells machines, servicing and classes from a storefront in a small city, with a modest online store attached to its website.

Last July it cut the price of two popular machines to match deals it had seen online. The margin on those machines disappeared, and few of the buyers came back for classes or fabric.

This year it is not matching anything. This morning's email to existing customers offered a free tension and timing check this week for any machine, wherever it was bought.

The machine pages on its website now list what comes with a purchase from the shop: two lessons, a first service, warranty repairs handled in the shop, and trade-in credit.

A line on the home page says the same, and staff have a short answer ready for anyone who asks about prices they have seen online.

Same-day pickup

For customers in town, an order placed online this morning and collected this afternoon is as fast as delivery gets.

Say so on every product page: order by noon, collect today, with the actual hour you mean. Then make sure somebody is there to have the order ready.

Show the difference on the product page

Customers comparing prices on a phone see a number and a delivery date. Your product page needs to show everything else, or the comparison happens on price alone.

List what is included under the price, not at the bottom of the page: setup, lessons, servicing, pickup, returns over the counter.

If you sell something people often buy online and then struggle with, say plainly that you help with that too. Some of this week's buyers will need a store like yours next month.

Price-match requests at the counter

Decide this morning what staff say when a customer holds up a lower price on a phone.

A short, friendly answer works best: the price you can offer, and what comes with it that the other one does not. Staff left to improvise tend either to refuse awkwardly or to discount on the spot.

The counter-case

Some stores do compete on price, and should.

A store selling identical, widely available products with nothing to add may find this week genuinely difficult, and the honest response is to sit it out rather than give away margin.

A store with real overstock can run its own sale, on its own dates and at prices it can sustain.

And a store that also sells through that marketplace is already part of the event, and plans for it differently.

For most independent stores, though, the answer to a two-day sale is the same as for the rest of the year: be the store that helps.

This week

  1. Leave your prices as they are.
  2. Email existing customers something useful, not a discount.
  3. List what is included on each product page.
  4. Make one offer that adds service, not discount.
  5. Put the pickup time on every product page.
  6. Brief staff on price-match questions.
  7. Note who uses the offer, for next year.

Step three is the one that lasts beyond this week. A product page that shows everything included lets customers compare the whole purchase, not just the number at the top.

Being honest about the delivery you can offer is covered in shipping promises after one-day delivery.

Frequently asked questions

Should a small store match Prime Day prices?

Usually not. A retailer that size can spread deep discounts across enormous volume, while a small store matching them loses margin on every sale and attracts buyers who leave for the next deal.

What does a small store offer instead?

Advice before buying, setup or lessons, servicing and repairs, warranty problems handled over a counter, same-day pickup, and staff who remember what the customer bought last time.

What should I email customers this week?

Something useful rather than a discount: a service reminder, a restock, an invitation to a demonstration or a short buying guide, sent only to customers who have consented to hear from you.

What is an offer that is not a discount?

More included at the same price: a free first service, a lesson or fitting, assembly and local delivery, a longer return window, or trade-in credit for an old model.

How should staff answer price-match requests?

With a short, friendly answer agreed in advance: the price you can offer and what comes with it. Staff left to improvise tend to refuse awkwardly or discount on the spot.

When does competing on price make sense?

When you have genuine overstock to clear on your own dates, at prices you can sustain. A store selling identical products with nothing to add may do better sitting the week out.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Product pages that only show a price?

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