Most Discounts Aren't Events — They're Defaults

We track 154,000 products across 160 Shopify DTC brands. Not samples. Not screenshots. Real data, updated weekly.

And when we looked at which products are "on sale" — meaning price is below compare-at price — the numbers weren't what we expected.

The Pattern

Across the dataset, 23% of all products are currently marked as discounted. That's not a Black Friday snapshot. That's a normal Wednesday.

But the interesting part isn't the average. It's the variance. Some categories hover at 2-3%. Others sit permanently above 40%. The "sale" isn't a promotion — it's a pricing strategy.

What This Means

Footwear at 63% isn't a clearance event. It's a structural reality. Brands in this category have trained customers to expect discounts. The "compare at" price exists primarily to create a strikethrough.

Home goods at 2.9% tells a different story. Higher consideration purchases, longer decision cycles. Customers research. Fake MSRPs are riskier when people actually check.

Next Drop

This is part of an ongoing series analyzing pricing behavior across DTC. Coming next: which specific brands never blink on price — the ones with actual pricing power. Not everyone's playing the same game.

Want to explore the data yourself? Browse the dataset →