This is a difficult question for some retailers — given the popularity of discounters and luxury retailers for two different customer segments in the marketplace. AND many retailers seem nervous to be in the mid-range.

Yet, as Anthonia Akitunde (founder, mater mea) observes for American Express Open Forum:

“In spite of the slide toward polarized pricing, don’t count out the middle-priced businesses yet, especially if they’re creating quality products, says Brent Ridge, co-founder of Beekman 1802 Mercantile, an artisanal lifestyle brand he started with his partner and The Amazing Race co-winner Josh Kilmer-Purcell. ‘We always try to educate our consumer that if you are getting a cheap price for a product, it’s because someone else has already paid the price; i.e., there was cheap labor, hard-knuckling the smaller guy on procurement, etc. We are finding that the consumer, more than ever, is in tune with these struggles. People are gravitating away from the idea of a throw-away society where we buy something for cheap fully expecting to throw it away and buy something else when it falls apart.'”

“There’s also opportunity for growth beyond the confines of the middle, says Jason Parks, owner of The Media Captain, a digital marketing company based in Columbus, Ohio. ‘Small retailers with a storefront should focus on promoting their products via social and setting up an E-commerce store. The retailer can drastically improve their profit margins if they are receiving orders from all over the country. If the mid-price retailer is currently struggling, an E-commerce strategy could result in saving money while still generating online orders for their products. There are a lot of people [who] still want quality products without having to spend their entire paycheck. “This is the exact reason why there is still space for mid-priced retailers.”

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