The deepest discounts of the year are agreed long before the year's shopping starts. Much of that stock is ordered in spring for a price decided at the same time.
Manufacturing lead times set the calendar
A large promotional volume cannot be produced at short notice. Components are sourced, factory capacity is booked and shipping is arranged months ahead of the selling date.
Sea freight alone accounts for weeks, and container capacity for the peak season is contracted well in advance because demand for it spikes at the same time every year.
By the time the promotion runs, the goods have been sitting in a distribution centre for some time, and the price they will carry was fixed long before.
Building to a price rather than discounting one
A retailer starts from the price point it wants to advertise, then asks what can be supplied at a cost that supports it.
The manufacturer responds by adjusting specification. A smaller panel, a slower processor, less memory, a simpler power supply or a shorter warranty each remove cost.
The result is a model built for the promotion. It is not a reduced version of the mainstream product but a separate item with its own code.
Why comparison is unusually hard
Promotional models often carry variant model numbers that differ from the mainstream range by a suffix, which prevents direct comparison across retailers.
Where a model exists in only one chain, no competing price is available, so the reference for the discount is a figure the retailer supplies itself.
Specification sheets are the reliable route. Screen technology, refresh rate, memory, connectivity and warranty length distinguish the variants where the name does not.
What genuinely gets discounted
Alongside purpose-built stock, retailers clear real inventory during the same period, particularly products approaching a model-year replacement.
Those reductions behave differently. Stock is limited, sizes and configurations run out, and the item does not return once the promotion ends.
Purpose-built promotional lines behave the opposite way, remaining available throughout because the quantity was ordered to cover the whole event.
Why the event keeps expanding
Concentrating a year's discounting into a single day strains warehouses, delivery networks and customer service beyond what they can absorb.
Spreading the same promotions across several weeks flattens the peak, which reduces cost and reduces the risk of a system failing at the worst moment.
It also removes the urgency that once defined the event, which is why the same offers now reappear repeatedly rather than existing for a single morning.