‘Pre-sale in progress.’ Inside the aggressive new strategies of Canadian department stores
If you've been in one of Canada's high-end department stores recently, you may have noticed an unfamiliar type of promotion. A recent visit to the Saks Fifth Avenue's downtown Toronto flagship revealed signs reading "Pre-Sale in progress," a popular sales technique south of the border that this Canadian shopper had never heard of. As an associate with an iPad kindly explained to me, the items on the pre-sale rack would soon be discounted by 40 per cent, and could be put on hold with a credit card until the sale officially began, at which point I could collect my purchase.