Discount Depth

Discount depth answers one question: how much cheaper is the sale price than the price it is compared with? It is usually expressed as a percentage of the reference price, so, for example, a 20% discount on a $40 product and on a $400 product have the same depth.

Two other numbers usually sit next to it:

Discount frequency. How often a brand runs a discount, for example the share of days or weeks with a sale live. Deep but rare discounts and shallow but constant ones are different strategies.

Discount breadth. How much of the catalog is discounted at once: a single product, a category or the whole store.

Together, depth, frequency and breadth describe how promotional a brand is. Promotional depth is usually another name for discount depth; for a campaign it is reported as the average or median depth across the discounted products.

The reference price matters. If the "was" price was never really charged, the stated depth is inflated. That is why depth is best calculated from recorded prices, not only from the percentage printed on a banner.

Depth is the most visible part of a competitor's promotion and the easiest to overreact to. You need a baseline to judge it. In September 2026, the median advertised discount in brand-verified Meta ads from the stores RivalSweeper tracks was 25% (Online Retail Radar, September 2026). For example, a competitor at 15% off is running a shallower discount than that median. One at 50% off is twice the median and worth a closer look: it may be a clearance, a loss leader or a seasonal event.

Depth also says something about a competitor's margin and position. A brand that keeps deepening its discounts week after week is buying volume. A brand that runs the same shallow discount all year is using it as part of its price. Knowing which pattern you face decides whether you answer with your own discount, a different offer such as free shipping, or nothing at all.

1. Record the reference and sale price for each product. Store both prices with the date, so the depth can be recomputed from the figures rather than read off a banner.

2. Calculate depth per product, then summarize. Use the median depth across discounted products for each competitor and category. Unlike the average, the median is barely moved by a single clearance item at, say, 70% off.

3. Track frequency and breadth next to depth. Note how many days each discount stays live and how much of the catalog it covers.

4. Compare against the competitor's own history. For example, a 30% discount from a brand that usually runs 10% is news. The same 30% from a brand that always runs it is not.

5. Get told when it changes. RivalSweeper records prices, discounts and dated price history along with promotions and coupon codes. It checks each monitored competitor site daily, so a new discount is known within 48 hours, and alerts go out when the daily check finds a change.