Post-Holiday Markdowns.

This morning I came in early to do some preliminary redisplay of the store. One of our trees came down, and the holiday ornaments were separated out from the holiday books, as the former are 50% off and the latter are not.

In addition, boxed holiday cards are also 50%. After experimenting with loose card markdowns, we've stopped doing them as we have only a small amount left and even a 50% markdown doesn't really spur sales. I have found that if we have a dead card where the price point might be an issue, it's better to just lower the price than to discount it. I'm not sure what the psychology is there--it might have something to do with perceived value.

This is also one of the two times of the year when I clearance other gift items that are not holiday themed. There are some items that simply didn't work, and others that worked really well, but we have very few left, and are not likely to reorder them for a good while. Sometimes one or two items display just fine (journals) while other times, they don't (wind ups, for example).

I am particularly sad that my felted trees did not work well, but I think I know what did wrong. When I looked at them in the showroom, they were not put on a tree, attached to a wall, looking almost like garland. In retrospect, that's how we should have displayed them. What an epiphany to have on December 26!

So to summarize:
Boxed cards are 50% off.
Holiday ornaments are 50-75% off.
Holiday gift bags and wrap are 50% off.
Other clearance items are 50-75% off.

For those inquiring, we will not be marking down our calendars until mid-January.