Many big retailers are discounting heavily and earlier this holiday season to clear excess stock from their shelves and warehouses. But others, with no substantive overhang of inventory, are also offering bigger sales than usual to satisfy shoppers who have come to expect them. “This is more of a reaction to what’s happening in this peak holiday-sales period.”Not all companies are being pulled into the discounting vortex. “We think that’s a good consumer experience.”Catbird, a Brooklyn-based jewelry company, is offering customers up to 20% off during the holidays, the biggest discount of its 18-year history. “No business owner who’s being honest is going to tell you they’re happy to have sales,” she said.

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