The plethora of red signage up and down the high street means that Sales have become more or less an irrelevance to shoppers.

In case it had escaped your attention, the high street is on Sale. There is an argument, of course, that it always is.

Think hard for a moment and try to remember the last time you wandered down to your local shopping street and didn’t see at least one of its denizens with the familiar red bunting draped across the storefront.

Most retailers have red in their windows, and in-store the promise of the signange is there to be seen. The only real difference is the extent of the Sale, which varies, to a greater or lesser degree, with how successful the season has been

Clearance is a fact of life, but the days of ‘heading into town for the January – or summer – Sales’ are long gone, and the phrase actually sounds quaint.

Seeing red

In the US, a large department store had the idea of putting banners across the frontage announcing: “assistant buyer’s regrets”. It was generally thought pretty funny as a way of getting shoppers inside to benefit from the bargains. And it did turn heads, which is rather the point.

A quick shimmy along Oxford Street serves to confirm a fact about one of the world’s busiest shopping streets: at this time of year, the great majority of shops give up trying to be different and just plaster every display with red.

The outcome is the visual equivalent of white noise.

There are just so many red shouty signs that no matter what kind of percentage off they announce, they barely merit a second glance, and their presence is accompanied by a sinking feeling.

So what’s the alternative?

On parts of the continent, the periods in which a store can visibly advertise its Sales are decreed by statute, meaning that signage ennui is less of a danger. And if this doesn’t work, the alternative might be to choose a colour other than red in order to convey the discount message.

Sale swan song

A final option might be not to bother with having a Sale at all. Have a measure of discounting in-store, but when everybody else is shouting at passers-by, what are the chances that your voice is really going to be heard?

A state of permanent high street discounting is the reality for many, but the red siren call is no longer relevant – it’s just a matter of following the herd.

A rethink is in order if customers are to be wooed and wowed.