Tips for Your Holiday Markdowns

By: Bonnie Christine

Story Adapted From Pattern Magazine – Volume 6

Pattern Magazine is Bonnie Christine's quarterly print and digital publication for surface pattern designers, artists, and creative entrepreneurs who believe that how you live shapes what you make. This story first appeared in Volume 6, Marking the Moment, the autumn 2026 issue.

Tips for small business owners, with Shop Flowerie.

If you are a small business owner, this time of year may feel especially full. There is inventory to prep, markets to attend, and, of course, the hustle and bustle of holiday sales.

Many retailers begin promoting discounts as early as October to kickstart Christmas shopping, sending a flurry of emails and lining shelves with eye-catching markdowns. And it is easy to get swept into promoting in a way that disrupts the softness of this season: advertising wants as needs and promoting quantity over handcrafted quality.

As a small business owner, how do you step into this season thoughtfully? How do you promote your own work without adding to the noise? How do you provide discounts that intentionally serve while aligning with your brand?

We asked these same questions when we considered how to promote our own shop, Flowerie, last autumn.

Flowerie’s brand is rooted in seasonality and heirloom quality design, so we were wary of urgency-based selling.

We chose to run a promotion from November 24th to December 2nd. Rather than embracing hype, countdown timers, or scarcity language, we centered our promotional campaign around one purpose: surprise and delight. We trusted that the clarity and the generosity of our offer would carry our products to the right individuals.

Here are five ways we participated in holiday markdowns last Christmas.

Choose Your Own Markdowns

It can be easy to get lost in the percentages and numbers of what other businesses are promoting. A huge discount here and free shipping there ... holiday markdowns can feel overwhelming.

Instead of looking at what other businesses are offering, look at your profit margins and choose markdowns that align with them. As a general rule of thumb, your gross profit margins should be 75% or higher.

There is no one-size-fits-all. Simply ask yourself: What can I offer to surprise and delight?

For our Flowerie markdowns, we offered tiered discounts starting at 15% off sitewide, 25% off $150 or more, and so on ... with a few other surprises along the way.

Write Emails That Bring Joy

Craft your promotional emails to serve individuals and meet them exactly where they are this season. What would brighten their day? What are they craving in the midst of the holiday?

In one of our Flowerie emails, we wanted to promote our Bonnie Apron, so we included a delicious scone recipe and encouraged our readers to pause for a moment and bake something festive. We paired a beautiful picture of our apron with the recipe and showed them where to purchase it, but the heart of the email focused on serving in a truly unique way.

While we did send multiple emails, we varied the content and made each one a thoughtful invitation. We prioritized being present rather than being pushy.

Wanting More?

Read the full story in Volume 6 of Pattern Magazine.

The complete feature (all five ways we ran our holiday markdowns, including debuting a new product, gifting a thank you, and sharing authentically) is in the latest issue.