Peak Trade: Balancing Urgency, Trust and Profitability

From a commercial perspective, it’s reasonable to differentiate between genuinely misleading “sitewide” claims and more common promotional tactics such as limited-time offers or curated product inclusions. The latter are long-standing retail levers used to manage margin, inventory, and demand, particularly in an environment where profitability is under constant pressure. In practice, many retailers structure these campaigns deliberately, selecting which products participate in time-bound promotions while excluding others, to balance revenue generation with margin protection. When executed transparently, this is not inherently misleading; it’s a function of disciplined commercial management.

The ACCC rightly highlights that consumers increasingly wait for events like Black Friday to make purchases. This shifts responsibility onto retailers to clearly communicate what is on sale, when and under what conditions, ensuring customers can make informed decisions. From my own experience leading CRM strategy, I’ve seen first-hand that this balance is achievable. Through disciplined management of content, offer structures, and targeting, I’ve led teams to deliver significant year-on-year sales growth during peak promotional periods, all while maintaining a very low level of customer complaints relative to the scale of communications being sent.

That outcome doesn’t come from removing urgency or promotional mechanics, it comes from applying them responsibly, with clear intent and alignment to customer expectations. Importantly, during these high-pressure trading periods, businesses need to consciously “put their customer hat on” and make it easier than ever to do business with the brand. One of the most underutilised levers here is simply asking customers what they actually want, inviting them to register preferences across products, categories, or brands. This allows organisations to curate highly relevant, personalised experiences based on declared intent and not just inferred behaviour or AI-driven assumptions. In a sea of noise, relevance becomes the real differentiator.

At the same time, consumer behaviour has evolved. Today’s shoppers have unprecedented access to price comparison tools, historical pricing data, and promotional tracking. The concept of “missing out” is no longer driven solely by retailer messaging, it is also shaped by how consumers interpret value at a given moment in time. In many ways, this is no different to purchasing a product at full price only to see it discounted days later. Pricing is dynamic, and purchase decisions are made based on perceived value at a specific point in time.

Rather than placing the entire burden on retailers, there is an argument for a more balanced perspective, one that considers both responsible promotional practices and increasingly informed, decision-capable consumers.