Stopped reading at "Deep discounting is not a sustainable customer retention strategy for the long term,". How can you say this when the most successful retailers in the world use this as their long term competitive strategy?
The most successful retailers in the world are able to fund deep discounting on a regular basis by applying pricing pressure on their suppliers. Wal-Mart demands price cuts from suppliers (and gets them) to fund their High-Low pricing strategy. Joes Hardware cannot. Topguest Apex is aimed at creating value for small-medium local merchants, not the "most successful retailers in the world."