Fort Lauderdale, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/29/2010 -- A woman who was shopping recently for matching Skagen watches for her and her husband, hoping to encounter good post-holidays prices, was surprised to find, first in a local jewelry store, and then at an authorized watches dealer online, everything being sold at manufacturer's suggested retail prices. Consumers who hear chatter everyday about all the bargains available during these tough economic times are sometimes surprised to find the same old prices and surprisingly few good deals when they visit traditional retail outlets and even online stores.

Retail prices, particularly with name-brand consumer goods such as watches, have come to be governed over the past couple of years by MAP pricing policies. MAP, for minimum advertised price, helps brands to prevent the sort of downward spiral of prices that can eventually devalue their brand, but doesn't do much to help them deal with the problem of excess inventory throughout their distribution channels.

MAP pricing has led to the growth of specialty discounters such as Miami based, online wristwatch dealer WorldofWatches.com. WorldofWatches.com is able buy the watches they sell at discounts, and then pass along discounts that can be as high as 85% off to their customers. Brands such as Skagen Watches and their retail outlets have found it is more effective for them to focus on selling their newest—and highest priced—goods, which are the focus of their marketing efforts, and leave the discounting business to others.

A glance at WorldofWatches.com's website http://www.worldofwatches.com reveals Skagen watches selling at discounted prices between 35 and 57% off MSRP. The discounts on many other brands such as Seiko Watches can go even higher. The thing that makes this possible, according to WorldofWatches.com marketing director Tom Forrest, is the competitiveness of the retail marketplace: "The intense competition in our (the wristwatch) marketplace means brands are constantly introducing new products, putting their marketing muscle behind them, and aggressively pushing older products and excess inventory to the discount watches market. Ultimately, it benefits the consumer."

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Fort Lauderdale, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/29/2010 -- Online wristwatch retailer WorldofWatches.com launched today a new promotion they're calling "$500 Fridays." Every Friday, the promotion discounts 20 watches which ordinarily retail for as much as $2500 down to an even $500 and throws in free shipping. The promotion includes watches from brands such as Swiss Army Watches, Invicta and Movado.

$500 Fridays is one of many promotions WorldofWatches.com is using to entice shoppers to buy watches at prices which are among the lowest anywhere. It differs from some of the other promotions the site is running in that it features higher-end, mostly Swiss-made watches.

WorldofWatches.com carries more than 75 brands of wristwatches and is well-known for its aggressive discount prices. The everyday prices for most of the watches on the site are deeply discounted, but WorldofWatches.com uses its promotions to apply even deeper discounts, sometimes as much as 85% off MSRP. Other promotions include "Timebombs", where watches are given an additional discount for a limited time which can be seen ticking down beside each watch included in the promotion. There is also a "Daily Deal", one watch per day, sold at a deeper than usual discount, and "Just For Her", another deal-of-the-day that features exclusively ladies' watches.

Despite bargain basement prices, http://worldofwatches.com sells only brand-new, carefully inspected watches. Each watch comes in its original packaging, is covered by warranty, and may be returned if you are unsatisfied with your purchase.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm