Marketplaces like Zalando and ASOS have made pricing fully transparent. Every discount is instantly visible — not only to shoppers but to competitors.
What was once a planned seasonal sale is now an always-on battlefield, where a single 20 % promotion can ripple through entire categories within hours.
For fashion brands, that transparency is both a growth lever and a profitability risk. Promotions drive traffic and conversion, but they also create margin pressure and price conflict across channels.
Why Marketplace Pricing Is Different
Unlike traditional wholesale or DTC, marketplace pricing moves in real time.
Three key levers define success:
- Depth – How much discount per SKU
- Width – How many SKUs or categories included
- Timing – When promotions launch and overlap
Third-party sellers add further volatility. A carefully planned brand campaign can be undermined when resellers cut prices early, setting new reference points for consumers and forcing defensive moves from the brand.
The Hidden Risks for Brands
Discount spirals – One competitor cuts price, others follow, eroding margin and setting new baselines.
Channel conflict – Marketplace prices undercut brand.com, hurting conversion and trust.
Regional inconsistency – A discount in one market leaks into others, disrupting alignment.
Uncontrolled third-party activity – Grey-market sellers create confusion and pressure official channels.
More than 50 % of fashion SKUs on marketplaces are discounted outside planned sale periods, a signal of how difficult it has become to maintain pricing discipline.
Smarter Promotion Management
Top-performing brands treat promotions as data-driven strategy, not reaction:
- Benchmark depth, width, and timing against competitors.
- Differentiate by category – protect evergreen SKUs, clear seasonal stock.
- Align campaigns with consumer moments, not competitor panic.
- Track reseller pricing to protect brand value.
- Defend margin discipline; sometimes not joining the discount race is the smarter move.
The Role of Data and Insights
Managing pricing across marketplaces now requires continuous intelligence:
- Which competitors are discounting — and by how much?
- How deep and broad are current promotions?
- Which SKUs face real pressure, and where can margin be held?
With this visibility, brands shift from reacting to leading — optimizing campaigns for both sell-through and profitability.
How Norna Helps
At Norna, we enable pricing and marketplace teams to see the full picture before they act.
Our technology continuously collects and harmonizes global marketplace data — tracking prices, discounts, and promotion depth across millions of SKUs.
- Through AI-driven benchmarking, Norna helps brands:
- Detect unplanned or premature discounts across marketplaces
- Compare campaign timing and depth to competitors
- Identify where price cuts threaten margin or brand position
- Align local and regional pricing strategies on a single data foundation
The result: fewer surprises, stronger margins, and better-timed promotions that protect both brand equity and profitability.