Kogan makes Black Friday-type steals a permanent feature

Internet Retailing

8th Dec 2016

Kogan.com has long traded on its reputation for low prices, but now the online retailer has taken the dubious step of making Black Friday-type steals a permanent feature.

With the launch of Hourly Deals today, Kogan.com is now offering customers a big discount on a single item for one hour only.

Once the hour is up, the deal expires and a new product is discounted. The cycle continues every hour on the hour all year long.

Kogan.com said discounts will be offered on a wide range of products and brands, including Apple, Samsung, LG, Nikon and Asics.

Since shoppers don’t know which item will be discounted next, there’s an incentive to visit Kogan.com more frequently.

“What’s the next item going to be? It could be an iPhone. It could be a cordless drill or a hair straightener. Not even I know. But I do know it will be an unbeatable deal,” Kogan.com’s founder and CEO Ruslan Kogan said.

“With our new Hourly Deals, we’re rewarding those fans who visit us frequently. There will be amazing deals available, on the hour, every hour,” he said.

“Our customers are loyal to us, and we’re dedicated to giving them exactly what they want.”

While retailers are often discouraged from rampant discounting, since frequent markdowns make it hard to convince customers to buy at full price, several retailers have told Internet Retailing that promotions are playing a more important role in driving sales throughout the year.

At a recent Retail Doctor breakfast event, Myer CEO Richard Umbers said, “Personally, I’m all for creating new experiential retail events throughout the calendar that help us all bring the whole shopping industry to life.”

And at Melbourne’s Shop the City event last week, a Country Road spokesperson said, “It has been a very promotionally-driven market over the past few years. There has to be newness in the offer. I think it has to be something different for the customer each time.”

The past four weeks alone have brought big discounts through Singles Day, Click Frenzy and Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But few retailers have taken the step to make big event-driven discounts a permanent part of their offering.