As a digital marketer, I’m always curious to see how big-name brands promote their products and position themselves in the market. On a recent shopping trip, I walked past House — the kitchenware chain — and noticed something amusing: they’re still running heavy discount campaigns instore. Whether it’s a fake closing down sale, mid-season sale, or christmas, they’ve always got promotion campaigns running.
A sale is supposed to be an event that happens every so often, and even though I knew they’re well and truly taking advantage of the sales tactic, I still found myself drawn into the store – curious to see what on sale and how much I could save.
Promotional-heavy advertising tends to divide marketers. Some argue that constant discounts dilute a brand’s value and undermine customer trust, that’s why brands like Apple refrain from discounting their products.
Others believe aggressive sales tactics are a smart way to cut through the noise and drive volume in an ultra-competitive market.
So what’s really going on with House? Is their never-ending sale campaign a bold, calculated strategy — or a dangerous gamble that could damage long-term brand equity? Let’s break it down from a marketing perspective.
Attention Grabbing Tactics
In the game of marketing, one of the most effective ways to beat the competition is simple: stand out. When you’re in a crowded retail category like kitchenware — where product differences are often minimal — being memorable matters. And for House, that edge comes from one thing: always being on sale.
For a brick-and-mortar retailer, the primary goal is foot traffic. The more people through the doors, the greater the chance of conversions. And what better way to spark interest, trigger impulse behaviour, or drive repeat visits than with big, bold discounts?
Sales aren’t new. In fact, Coca-Cola famously ran one of the first major discount campaigns in the early 1900s by issuing coupons for free or discounted bottles — a tactic that helped skyrocket brand awareness. But House has taken it to another level, running year-round sales that appear constant, almost never-ending.
So what makes this work for them? Let’s explore the psychology behind their approach — and why I believe it’s a deliberate tactic to stand out in a saturated market.
The sale has always been one of the best ways to grab a consumers attention, get them motivated to visit your store, and get them buying your products.
The Psychology Behind the Perpetual Sale
To understand why House’s “always-on-sale” strategy works, we need to look at the psychology behind discounting — and how consumers respond to it.
1. Urgency & FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
Limited-time sales are powerful because they create a psychological clock — the idea that if you don’t act now, you’ll lose out. Even if a customer isn’t actively looking for new kitchenware, the urgency can override logic.
Case in point: I knew I didn’t need another knife set or a new frying pan, but I still found myself walking into House. Why? Because I saw signs screaming that $15,000,000 worth of stock had to go. That kind of messaging doesn’t just suggest a sale — it screams event. And events create curiosity.
When House uses phrases like “Closing Down Sale” or “$15,000,000 Must Clear,” it flips a psychological switch. Suddenly, you’re not just shopping — you’re racing against time. That FOMO kicks in, pushing people to browse now and think later. It’s urgency by design — and it works.
2. The Scarcity Principle
Scarcity is one of the oldest psychological tricks in the book — and still one of the most effective. Even when stock levels are perfectly fine, signage like “limited stock,” “final markdowns,” or “while stocks last” taps into our primal instincts. Suddenly, the item feels more desirable — not because we need it, but because we might lose the chance to have it.
This response is hardwired. It goes back to our tribal wiring — a monkey see, monkey do mentality. If we see others grabbing something, we assume there’s value in it. We use other people as a reference point to validate our own decisions.
That’s why when we see a shelf half empty, or an item marked with “only a few left,” we’re more likely to add it to our cart. It’s not always rational — but that’s the power of scarcity. It shifts the shopper’s mindset from “Do I want this?” to “I’d better grab it before it’s gone.”
3. Anchoring Bias & the Illusion of Savings
Consumers don’t look at a sale as money being spent — they see it as money being saved. If a $149 knife block is reduced to $49, we don’t think “I just spent $49”. Instead, we think “I just saved $100!” That’s the anchoring bias in action — where the original (often inflated) price sets a mental benchmark that makes the sale price feel like a massive win.
This taps directly into our brain’s reward system. As humans, we crave validation — we want to feel like we’re making smart decisions and coming out ahead. Scoring a “bargain” gives us a little dopamine hit, reinforcing that behaviour. It’s the reason we’ll brag about how much we saved, not how much we spent.
And let’s be honest — how often have you justified a purchase by saying, “It was 70% off!” That post-purchase validation makes us feel less guilty and more victorious. House knows this. By anchoring products against inflated RRP, they give customers the emotional reward of saving big — even if the product’s true value lies somewhere in the middle.
5. 60% Off Is the Sweet Spot of Discounts
There’s a psychological tipping point when it comes to discounts — and 60% off is where things start to get really exciting for shoppers. At this level, the deal feels too good to pass up, yet still believable. It hits that perfect balance between “I’m getting incredible value” and “This must be legit.”
Why not 30%? It’s nice, but not always enough to change behaviour. Why not 80%? That can start to feel sketchy or too good to be true. But 60%? It triggers action. It says, “This is a serious markdown, and if I wait, I might miss out.”
Retailers like House know this — that’s why so many of their promotional signs hover around that 50–70% off range. It’s a psychological zone where value perception spikes, urgency builds, and purchase resistance drops. People feel like they’re beating the system, even if they didn’t need the item in the first place.
From a branding perspective, it’s also just high enough to make a splash, but not so extreme that it completely destroys credibility. In short, 60% off is where logic stops and emotion takes over — and that’s where conversions happen.
6. Trust in Routine: When the Sale Becomes the Brand
At first glance, House’s constant sales might seem misleading — after all, how can a store be “closing down” for three years straight? But over time, something interesting happens: customers stop questioning it.
When a marketing message is repeated enough, it becomes part of the brand identity. In House’s case, the routine of walking past those big red “Closing Down” or “60% Off Everything” signs becomes familiar — even expected. The store isn’t seen as dishonest; it’s seen as always on sale. That consistency actually creates its own kind of trust.
Shoppers know what they’re getting with House: a deal. And that predictability builds a comfort zone. Instead of feeling tricked, people treat it like a quirk — “That’s just what House does.”
From a psychological standpoint, repetition breeds familiarity, and familiarity builds trust — even if the message is a stretch of the truth. House has leaned into that routine so hard, it’s essentially rebranded itself around the idea of value through discounts.
The Long Game: Is House Undermining Its Own Brand?
While the psychology behind constant sales is undeniably effective in the short term, the long-term impact on brand perception and pricing power is a different story.
- Value Dilution: When Everything’s Always on Sale, Nothing Feels Valuable
One of the biggest risks with House’s approach is that it chips away at the perceived value of its products. If everything is always marked down, customers start to associate the brand not with quality kitchenware, but with bargains — and nothing more.
Think about it: if a $149 knife block is always “on sale” for $49, then $49 quietly becomes the new mental benchmark for that product. The original price becomes irrelevant. Over time, the brand loses its ability to command higher prices, even if the quality is there. This makes it very hard to raise prices in the future or introduce premium product lines with credibility.
It also affects how customers perceive the product’s quality. Fair or not, people often equate price with value. If something’s constantly cheap, it may start to feel cheap — even if it’s actually a great product. That’s the double-edged sword of always-on sales: yes, they move stock, but they also make customers question whether the products were ever worth full price to begin with.
From a brand-building point of view, this is dangerous territory. You’re no longer seen as a trusted destination for quality kitchenware — you’re seen as the place with the perpetual bargain bin.
- Trust & Credibility: When “Closing Down” Stops Feeling Honest
At the heart of marketing is trust — and House is walking a fine line. The repeated use of “closing down” language, year after year, can start to feel disingenuous. Most customers understand that promotional language is meant to grab attention, but when the same message is recycled for years, it starts to raise eyebrows.
There’s a risk that consumers will start to question not just the sale, but the brand’s honesty overall.
Even though many shoppers are in on the “joke” — “Oh, House is still closing down?” — that doesn’t mean the strategy is without consequence. As consumer awareness grows, people are becoming more attuned to marketing manipulation, and they’re quicker to call out brands that stretch the truth.
This matters especially for a category like kitchenware, where people invest in tools that are meant to last. There’s an emotional element — cooking for family, creating memories — and if a brand feels shady or gimmicky, it undermines that emotional trust.
It also creates problems when House wants to actually market a legitimate promotion. If every sale is a massive clearance event, how do you get attention when you’re genuinely clearing stock, or actually shutting a location? You’ve burned the playbook.
In short, credibility is hard to earn and easy to lose — and while House’s messaging might work in the short term, over time it risks turning loyal customers into skeptics.
- Competing on Price Alone: A Race You Don’t Want to Win
When a brand leads with price — and keeps leading with price — it eventually loses the ability to differentiate in any other way. This is one of the biggest strategic downsides of House’s sales-heavy approach: it teaches customers to value the discount more than the brand itself.
Rather than being known for product innovation, customer experience, or high-quality materials, House becomes synonymous with cheap kitchenware. The problem is, there will always be a competitor willing to go lower. Big-box retailers, online marketplaces like Amazon, and discount chains can all play the pricing game — and often at a scale that House can’t sustainably compete with.
Once you’re boxed into the “bargain brand” category, it’s very difficult to climb back out. It becomes harder to justify premium price points, launch new high-end lines, or even introduce non-sale campaigns without resistance. You’ve conditioned your customer base to only respond to discounts — and that limits how you can grow or evolve.
There’s also a cost to customer loyalty. Price-driven shoppers are notoriously fickle. If your biggest drawcard is “60% Off,” you’re not building a brand tribe — you’re just building traffic. The second a competitor offers 65% off or free shipping, those same customers will jump ship.
At some point, the question becomes: Is House building a loyal audience, or just renting attention with discounts?
- Discount Fatigue: When the Excitement Wears Off
Sales are supposed to feel exciting — a surprise, a win, a reason to act now. But when everything is always on sale, the novelty wears thin. What once sparked curiosity starts to feel like background noise.
This is the risk of discount fatigue — when shoppers become so accustomed to seeing big markdowns that they stop reacting to them altogether. The messaging blends into the retail landscape, no longer creating urgency or excitement, because it’s no longer rare. The dopamine hit of scoring a deal? Gone.
Even worse, constant sales can cause customers to question the authenticity of the pricing altogether. They start to wonder: Was this product ever really worth $149? Or is the “original” price just a number they made up to make the discount look bigger? That skepticism can damage not just the promotion — but trust in the brand as a whole.
From a marketing standpoint, always-on discounts also remove a key tool from your arsenal. If you’re always shouting, “60% Off!” then what do you say when you actually have a clearance sale? Or when you want to launch a new product line with a promotional offer? You’ve already maxed out the volume, leaving yourself nowhere to go.
The irony is that the very thing meant to attract customers — deep discounts — eventually becomes the reason they tune out. Predictability is the enemy of persuasion, and without surprise or contrast, your promotions just become white noise.
- The Loyalty Trade-Off: Transactional Customers, Not Devoted Fans
One of the less obvious but most critical downsides of constant discounting is the type of customer it attracts — and more importantly, the kind it doesn’t.
When a brand is built on perpetual sales, it tends to attract deal chasers, not loyalists. These customers are driven by the lowest price, not by product quality, brand values, or customer experience. They’ll happily switch to a competitor the moment a better deal comes along, because their emotional connection to the brand is shallow at best — and transactional at worst.
That’s a big problem in a world where brand loyalty is one of the few remaining moats retailers can build. While House might generate foot traffic and volume through its promotions, it may be sacrificing long-term customer relationships in the process. These aren’t people who rave about the brand, engage on social media, or return without being prompted by a massive sale banner.
Compare that to brands that build loyalty through storytelling, customer service, community, or innovation. Their customers come back regardless of price — because the brand has built equity in ways that go deeper than discounts.
In House’s case, this could also limit word-of-mouth referrals. People may talk about a “great deal they got,” but they’re less likely to say, “You’ve got to check out House, their products are amazing.” Over time, that weakens brand advocacy and makes every new sale dependent on more advertising spend — not customer evangelism.
Ultimately, sales may bring people through the door, but loyalty is what keeps them coming back. And House may be winning the former at the expense of the latter.
Applying House’s Sales Strategy to Digital Marketing: Lessons We Can Learn
While there are risks to House’s approach, there are valuable takeaways for digital marketers looking to boost engagement and conversions. Understanding the psychology behind constant sales and the emotional triggers they rely on can help marketers design more effective campaigns online.
Here’s how we can borrow from House’s tactics and apply them to digital marketing:
1. Create Urgency with Limited-Time Offers
House’s success is largely due to its ability to trigger urgency with limited-time offers. Digital marketers can apply this tactic by using countdown timers on landing pages, special flash sales, or limited availability offers on product pages to get visitors to act fast. Even in a digital world, the fear of missing out (FOMO) can drive conversions.
2. Use Scarcity to Boost Demand
Scarcity works in retail, and it works online too. Using phrases like “Only 5 items left in stock” or “Hurry, sale ends in 12 hours” can create a sense of exclusivity and heighten perceived value. Scarcity also plays into social proof — if a customer sees “only a few left,” they may be more likely to purchase, fearing the product might sell out.
3. Leverage Anchoring and Discounting
Consumers love to feel like they’re saving money. Digital marketers can mirror House’s anchoring strategy by clearly displaying the original price next to the sale price, showing how much customers save. Additionally, bundle offers can mimic the same “deal” mentality — bundling products together at a discount to create the illusion of added value.
4. Employ the Power of Familiarity
As House’s strategy proves, consistency matters. For digital marketing campaigns, repetition can build recognition and trust. Whether it’s through retargeting ads that remind customers of what they’ve previously looked at or consistent email marketing campaigns that highlight deals and new offers, maintaining a regular touchpoint with your audience keeps you top of mind.
5. Customer Loyalty Beyond Discounts
Finally, while House’s discounts may drive traffic, digital marketers can take this a step further by building deeper loyalty with customers. Offering exclusive rewards programs, special access to content, or personalized email campaigns based on customer behavior can turn one-time shoppers into long-term advocates.
In summary, while House’s approach might not be the blueprint for every brand, digital marketers can certainly learn from their ability to create urgency, build perceived value, and drive immediate action. The key is balancing these tactics with authenticity and ensuring that the brand doesn’t get lost in the noise of discounts.
Conclusion: Striking the Right Balance Between Urgency and Value
House’s continuous sales strategy offers a fascinating case study in using psychology to drive customer behavior. The brand’s ability to trigger urgency, create perceived scarcity, and appeal to customers’ sense of savings has no doubt helped them stand out in a competitive retail market. However, there’s a fine line between leveraging these tactics for short-term wins and risking long-term brand dilution, loss of trust, and customer loyalty.
As digital marketers, there’s much we can learn from House’s strategy. From limited-time offers that create urgency to scarcity tactics that make products seem more desirable, these psychological triggers can be incredibly effective when used thoughtfully in digital campaigns. However, the key takeaway here is that these tactics should be applied with balance. The success of any marketing strategy hinges on authenticity and sustainable brand building — something that can’t be achieved by simply relying on sales-driven promotions.
While House may have mastered the art of grabbing attention with aggressive discounts, successful digital marketing campaigns should focus on delivering value — not just driving sales. By incorporating urgency, perceived value, and even the occasional discount into a broader strategy that also nurtures customer loyalty and brand trust, digital marketers can achieve better long-term results that resonate beyond the checkout.
In the end, it’s about finding the sweet spot between captivating your audience with timely offers and building a strong, authentic brand that customers trust, remember, and return to again and again.
