Neiman Marcus Sale: You’re doing it wrong

We’ve heard on Neiman Marcus.

We tried to buy something from there once and they wouldn’t take our Visa card.

We also have a shirt from there. It was a gift.

So to say we’re the authority on Neiman Marcus or on high-end retail fashion would be a stretch – the type a 60-year-old man with back problems would make.

Still, there is Neiman Marcus Sale going on, and we’re not sure how you would have heard about it.

(We stumbled onto a press release checking earnings reports and Google Trends, if you’re wondering how we came across it.)

Speaking of said press release, here is a snippet.

Starting today, Neiman Marcus, the iconic upscale American fashion retailer, is having a huge three day sale. This sale is online only and can save customers between 30% and 75% off their order of designer merchandise.

An extra 30% off will be taken off one sale item, or an extra 40% off two or more, for savings as much as 75% off!

This massive sale features pieces from designers such as Alexander McQueen, Alexander Wang, Baby Dior, Christian Louboutin, DKNY, Dolce & Gabbana, Dolce Vita, Fendi, Gucci, Prada, Ralph Lauren, True Religion, and hundreds more.

While we’re on the topic, if you ever want to know if what you’re reading is a press release, look for the exclamation point.

Anyway, this did sound like a pretty big deal considering Neiman Marcus isn’t exactly known for its great prices.

However, from what we could tell, this press release was put out today, and we’ve heard nothing about from our Social Media channels (and, yes, we have many connection who would let the world know about such an event).

It’s a dropped opportunity for Neiman Marcus in more ways than one.

The company said Thursday that revenue for Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores open at least a year rose 7.7 percent, benefiting from strong sales of designer handbags, shoes and women’s contemporary sportswear.

Total revenue for the period ended July 30 increased 7.9 percent to $244 million.

The better-than-expected report earned attention and headlines. Seemingly the perfect opportunity to announce a celebration sale.

Nope.

Instead, Neiman Marcus left it up to a press release, which we stopped reading when it began exposing the colorful history of the company.

We wanted to check out the sale, so we went to the company’s website…

… and didn’t see any sign of the sale.

So we shot back to the press release.

The exact items included in this sale can be found on the Neiman Marcus website under the “SALE” tab.

This is a pro tip for companies: If you have to put directions to what your trying to promote in your press release, that’s a bad sign.

That said, we shot back to the site, and we actually did see the tiny purple text lost in the logo calling out the sale. We clicked that and the sales tab and were greeted by what should have greeted us on the front page: A huge call out to the sale.

So, just to recap: Poor timing. No social media play. Bad functional design.

We’re not blasting Neiman Marcus here (OK. Maybe a little). We’re just disheartened by the missed opportunities.

The company has all the right tools and culture to be an Internet hit, but it whiffed big time on this one.