I've noticed that "outlet stores" (stores with names like "<Brand X> Outlet" that you can find at outlet malls, such as the San Francisco Premium Outlets) sometimes sell SKUs that aren't sold by the company normally. Likewise, on Black Friday, you might find inventory in stores that isn't there normally. If an item isn't normally in stock, it's retail price is only hypothetical, and they can get away with saying that it's "60% off" or whatever.
Once upon a time, outlet stores generally were all end-of-season, B-stock, etc... but fickle consumers didn't like that it was possible to go to an outlet store and not find anything to buy, so the brands started making cheaper "outlet" lines to fill the shelves.
Stuff like this, or the JC Penny experiment years ago where the new executive team tried to get rid of deep discount sales and have consistently low prices only to be met with consumer uproar, make me really glad that I don't work anywhere near consumer retail.
I remember being very confused on this when going to an outlet store after college. They were basically rebranded malls, at that point. Not at all what I was expecting from high school days going to outlets.
I apologize for jumping in this convo with unrelated stuff but I was looking at my history and since I can't message you I just wanted to let you know years later how much your reply here resonates with me now. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18475792
Wow, that is a blast from the past. I don't recall my frame of mind in writing that, well. Hopefully it isn't quite as cynical as I feel the past few months. At least, hopefully that isn't the part that is resonating! :D
The outlet stores often have small text on price tags saying that the items may never have been sold at their "original" price. It's a convoluted way of saying that the sale discounts are imaginary.
From Nordstrom Rack's web site:
This comparable value and corresponding percentage are based on what the item, or similar item, was originally offered for by Nordstrom or elsewhere in the market, which may have been reported to us by the manufacturer.
Coach Outlet’s revenue is something like 10x the revenue of Coach proper. In some cases, the outlet is the primary brand, or sometimes just an entirely separate brand.
I believe it. My wife shops at Coach and their outlet stores are much better than their main stores. The store footprint is at least double, which means they also carry more product. The outlet has more men's products as well. Plus the staff is generally more grounded.
I had a purse of hers sent back for reconditioning and the regular store didn't seem to notice that it was originally an outlet product (granted, it was like 8 years old at that point).
Granted, not every retailer is like that. GAP brands definitely sell inferior products at their outlet stores. But I don't notice a difference in quality for Levi's stuff at their outlet stores vs department stores.
I think outlet malls are generally seen by consumers as "malls that focus largely on clothing". The only regular malls that have survived in my area are maybe 30% clothing, with the rest being the huge Apple store, restaurants, cafes, jewelry, car showrooms (?), LEGO, overpriced home goods, etc. While the outlet mall remains like 80% clothing.
