Should you discount or offer something else?

Something else, wherever you can. Free express delivery, a bundle, an extended warranty or early access all cost less than margin and do not train the customer to wait.

What decides it

A discount is the only offer that permanently reprices you in the customer’s mind. If one is used, tie it to a condition — a bundle, a first order, a genuine deadline — so the reason expires with the price.

The part that gets skipped

Traffic spikes break the things that were nearly broken already — usually image weight and a checkout step nobody tested under load.

The customers won in that week are worth almost nothing unless something brings them back in January.

The preparation that matters happens in October. A store deciding its Black Friday plan in November is already reacting.

Where an app fits

This is the one week where owning a notification channel pays for the year — reaching last year’s buyers costs nothing per message.