Dive Brief:

• The 2013 holiday season, with fewer weeks to shop and an iffy economy, saw consumers demanding deals well beyond Black Friday.

• Retailers responded with flash sales, door-busters, price-matching policies, and more pricing somersaults to get customers walking out their doors with goods and following through with their online checkout.

• Many retailers, notably Best Buy, saw Q4 revenues suffer as a result.

Dive Insight:

Slaking consumers’ thirst for good deals by simply slashing prices carries multiple consequences for retailers, including whetting their appetite for yet more. Not only have many retailers’ Q4 revenues taken a hit as a result of their competitive pricing policies, but they are now also navigating a minefield of consumer expectations and an altered customer loyalty environment.

If price is the only issue, customers will constantly showroom and webroom their way to the best deal and are more likely to ignore any relationship a retailer has built with them, observers say. For some retailers, bargain-basement prices cut into their brand, something that’s lost on a customer who is just shopping around to save the last penny. This is especially true for brands that don’t have a discount reputation or approach in the first place. In order to keep customers engaged, retailers must find a multitude of ways to make them happy beyond the bottom line. That means better customer service and perks — even pricing perks — that are tied to loyalty.