Every year over the Thanksgiving weekend, Whistler Blackcomb host their famous Turkey Sale. This three-day sale attracts 20,000 people to the base of Blackcomb every year to buy brand name ski and snowboard gear. There are a number of marketing concepts at play that have led to the success of the Turkey Sale every year.

The first marketing technique that works wanders for the sale is the promotion of the sale. The recent promotional campaign of the turkey sale is run off of the success the sale has had over the past 12 years. The sale has grown to become an event thousands of people expect every year. It practically promotes its self through work of mouth between consumers talking about the potential sales. The sale is so huge that hotels in the whistler sell Turkey Sale packages for the weekend, which in turn attracts more people to the sale. In addition, advertisements online on the Whistler Blackcomb website, as well in variously magazines and newspapers are place to remind the consumer of the upcoming savings opportunity.

The most important marketing technique used by the Turkey Sale management implements is the setting of the price levels for the ski and snowboard products. The sale sells the previous years brand name gear and equipment at sales up to 70% off.  Since Ski and Snowboard gear is somewhat of a luxury item they tend to have a huge mark up, so management can discount hundreds of dollars off of gear and still make a profit. The key to the success is they make sure that the full retail price of the equipment is clearly shown next to the sale price. This has the effect on the customer of setting the value of the product much higher that the cost of the customer.

To further push sales, management capitalizes on the consumer behaviour of scarcity. The consumers are aware that there is s pretty limited supply of stock available (the sale doesn’t seem to have too many of the same produce and same size in stock). When consumers finally find an item they are interested in or are looking for they need to make a decision to purchase the product pretty quickly. Coupled with the allusion of huge savings and scarcity consumers tend to make very rash choices that might not be fully thought out.

The Turkey Sale at is a hugely successful sale that plays off its own success, the perceived value of sales items and the scarcity principle.