20% off Thanksgiving Sale is Here and I Have Thoughts

Friends; the time is here. Holidays are right around the corner, and people have been waiting until this week to splurge on their big purchases. As an elder millennial, I had a bit of an epiphany with social media this year. (Get ready to roll your eyes and say, "duh.") When it comes to my personal social media accounts, I used it as an unhinged diary or newsletter just to keep the people in my life in the loop of my on goings. With my business accounts, I treated it as a bulletin board to share announcements: new releases, sales, restocks, discontinued items, etc. I was missing the social aspect. (It's ok, you can say it - "duh.")

Which then got me thinking about how much I miss running a brick and mortar store. As many of you know, I got my start in this industry managing a high end, sustainably driven baby boutique in Chicago. Before then, I had been a buyer for the Whole Foods Whole Body department (pre-Amazon buyout) and a sales rep in the natural industry. All three of those positions required so much face to face interaction, and exercising my natural skills of educating. 

Now, here I am running (for the most part) an online boutique, (I do pop-ups when I can.) and I miss that interaction. Cue my social media ephiphany:

From interacting with customers and fellow entrepreneurs, I realized I am in no position to compete with The Man and people who support The Man.

I cannot tell you how many holidays I remember my mom, who owned and operated THREE brick and mortar boutiques, removing herself from the dinner table to count inventory, make signs, check on merchandising, etc. I understand why she did it, but I do not want to make those same memories for my kids. The customers who choose to shop small understand we are operating with a small team and cannot tend to all fires at the same time.

People who are looking for 50-75% off are probably not my people. They are the ones still shopping at Target and on Amazon (boycott where??), expecting these amazing deals, not realizing those deals are feasible from the price hikes they make on imported goods. From the conception of Pram N Proper, I have always wanted to support the little guy, who make products I genuinely love, and are committed to sustainability and ethical manufacturing. While that entire sentence gives me (and hopefully you!) warm fuzzies inside, it means that I am committing myself to extremely low margins, or else MUCH higher prices. I have chosen to keep prices as low as I possibly can throughout the year, which means I cannot reasonably cut my prices lower than 20-30%. 

And now here we are, Thanksgiving week. Everything is 20% off November 24-December 1.
I will not be holding three separate sales for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, or Cyber Monday. Can't do it. Won't do it. 
But the good news for you is that because I'm operating with such a tiny, but mighty crew, is that I didn't have the bandwidth to go through and alter any of my Bundle & Save or Sale categories before slapping a general 20% off sale on everything.

That means, the following categories and items are double dipped in sales!
- The Bumbleride + Clek Travel Systems regularly includes a full priced stroller + 15% off the car seat + free car seat adapters.
- The Feeding Collection is regularly Buy One Get One 15% off.
- All Bedding Bundle & Save items regularly allow the option to purchase a case at 20% off
- The Sale category. Yup. There's some lingering inventory in there that's heavily discounted, and I've slapped an additional 20% off that, too. Enjoy!

Please know that if this year has been hard, and you don't have the means to shop small. I whole heartedly get it. This year has been hard, and we are all doing our best. You reading this blog, following and interacting with Pram N Proper on socials, opening the emails, means the absolute world to me, like I'm not just shouting into the empty cyber void. Wishing you a relaxing holiday weekend, and don't forget -- 20% off ends Monday, December 1.