Why Your Promotions Deserve More Attention Right Now

Promotions remain one of the most powerful levers retailers have to influence traffic, loyalty and category performance. But in today’s market, simply running more offers is not a strategy. Consumers are more cautious, competition is intense and margin pressure is persistent. Every promotion must work harder to deliver value for shoppers and profitable growth for the business.

That makes promotional performance a critical focus as retailers plan for the 2026 peak holiday season and begin shaping their 2027 budgets. Every retailer should be paying closer attention right now to understand where existing promotional investment is creating value, where it is being lost and what should change in the months ahead.

The pressure on promotions is growing

Today’s shoppers are more deliberate about where and when they spend. They compare prices, switch brands and look for clear value before committing to a purchase. That pressure is especially visible during the holiday season, when shoppers may be balancing gifts, gatherings and higher everyday costs.

Recent research reported by Chain Store Age shows how those pressures are shaping holiday behavior. In an Omnisend survey, 78% of consumers said higher prices would affect how much they spend during the 2026 holiday season, while 50% said rising grocery costs were making it harder to host. At the same time, 53% planned to participate in holiday gatherings by hosting or bringing food, and 33% expected to spend more on holiday groceries than they did last year.

The message for retailers is clear: Consumers are not necessarily opting out of holiday occasions, but they are likely to be more selective and look for the best deals. They may trade down, change quantities, compare retailers more closely or wait for the right offer.

In a high-stakes holiday period, and in the 2027 planning to come, the pressure is on for retailers to adapt their promotional strategy to fit changing consumer needs.

Shift the focus from promotional activity to performance

If you want to take a closer look at your promotions, start by reviewing what your promotional investment is actually delivering. Look beyond the number of offers, quantity of units sold or amount of revenue generated. Consider incremental margin, category performance, customer response, vendor contribution and the effect on adjacent products.

This broader view helps distinguish activity from performance. A busy holiday promotional calendar is not necessarily a productive one. In some cases, reducing the number of offers can improve results by allowing teams to focus investment on promotions that create genuine incremental value and help shoppers feel they are getting a fair deal.

Promotions should also support broader commercial priorities. They can help retailers strengthen private-label adoption, respond to competitive pressure, move inventory or build value perception on products shoppers notice most during the holidays. The best offer is not always the deepest discount. It is the offer that supports the right customer and business outcome without giving away margin unnecessarily.

Find the leaks across the full promotion lifecycle

Promotional value can be lost at almost any stage: when an offer is selected, negotiated, approved, executed, measured or reconciled. Retailers should ask where visibility is weakest and where the same issues appear repeatedly — especially when holiday events compress planning and execution timelines.

Which promotions consistently underperform? Are vendor funds being applied to the offers most likely to benefit the category? How often are earned funds left unclaimed because commitments, sales and reconciliation records are not connected? Are teams making decisions from complete and reliable information? Can the business distinguish a genuinely incremental holiday purchase from a sale that was simply pulled forward or shifted from another item?

These questions often reveal that the biggest opportunity is not more trade spend. It may be better allocation of existing investment, fewer ineffective offers, stronger supplier collaboration or improved recovery of funds already earned. Better answers can help retailers protect both holiday results and the baseline demand that follows the season.

Turn holiday lessons into the 2027 plan

The 2026 holiday season should be more than a sales milestone. It should provide a practical test of which offers, categories, funding strategies and execution choices create value under pressure. Capture those lessons while they are fresh, then use them to shape the next planning cycle.

As retailers build their 2027 budgets, it’s time for an honest evaluation of whether the current technology stack provides the visibility and analytical capability needed to improve promotion decisions at scale. Can you ensure every promotion is purposeful, measurable and aligned to the needs of the customer and the business, or are technology gaps holding you back?

The right tools can help you create better experiences for shoppers and stronger partnerships with suppliers — making promotional effectiveness an important part of the 2027 business case, not simply a merchandising concern.

An action plan for your promotions

Our latest ebook, Stopping the Bleed: How Retailers Can Reduce Promotions Margin Leakage, dives further into the most common sources of margin leakage, quick wins for improving promotional performance and next steps for empowering promotional growth with stronger technology.

Download the ebook now to learn how you can prepare for promotional peak season and build the business case for 2027.