She was ecstatic.
"I wanted that dresser soooo badly but it a bit too expensive for my budget," she gushed. "Suddenly, this morning, the price dropped. Magic! I just had to rush right over to get it!"
The woman had fallen in love weeks ago with a rock maple double dresser with mirror originally priced at $599. Consignment-savvy, she'd been visiting our web site regularly and watching for price reductions. She understood the drill at FCG: every 30 days the price of an item drops 10%.
After finding the perfect dresser for her guest bedroom, she started checking our website every morning, hoping to see the piece still for sale. With every price drop, her excitement mounted. Soon, she was checking the website during every break at work and every evening to be sure it was still there.
On May 9th, the price fell to $419.99, the final scheduled markdown. Still, she wavered, she told us, somehow hoping for a miracle that would bring the price within her budget, which was under $400.
This week, she got that miracle.
On Tuesday, knowing nothing of her vigil, I barreled through the doors of our store in Hanover. Truckloads of furniture were scheduled to arrive in the next few days, and we had to make room in all three of our showrooms. Besides, I was feeling inspired and frisky. "Toss me the red pen!" I yelled to Brian, our store manager. "We're going to sell a lot of furniture this week."
Once armed with red ink, I was on a mission. I slashed hundreds of items in all three showrooms in Hanover, Plymouth and Natick. You'll find the new reduced prices on our website, as well.
Moments after marking down the maple dresser in Hanover, Brian got a call from the woman who'd been stalking that piece of furniture for months. "I'm super-excited and I'm on my way!" she chortled breathlessly. "Please hold if for me."
Some of my red-pen markdowns have to be seen to be believed. What was I thinking? Well, I guess it was spring fever. All I know is that I made at least one customer very, very happy.
