The desired product at a super-cheap price is every consumer’s dream and, on the other hand, an increasingly used promotional strategy to boost sales and reduce inventory in the short term.
This is precisely the case with flash sales, promotional strategies that base their success on impulse buying.
But what are flash sales and how can they add value to your eCommerce strategies?
A flash sale, also called a lightning offer, is a special promotion that has, as characteristics, a very short time duration and a validity limited to particular products.
Limited quantity of available products and short time duration are thus the two factors that justify thevery size of the proposed discount, which is often much higher than in normal promotions.
The success of these strategies is encapsulated, thus in the ability to elicit in the consumer the so-called impulse purchase, quick, sudden and immediate.
Flash sales: when to take advantage of them to boost your sales
As anticipated, flash sales are a particularly effective promotional strategy if you want to increase eCommerce sales quickly.
Although in order to bring success to one’s eCommerce, it is desirable to adopt a business model that provides for steady growth in sales volume and revenue over time, flash sales can prove particularly useful i at particular times of the year, to deseasonalize the offering as well as to unload inventory if there are large quantities for particular product categories or specific items.
Sudden increase in sales, but not only that: flash sales, if also conveyed through promotional channels, can prove successful in attracting new customers and/or retaining existing ones.
Let’s see how.
Successful flash sales? Here are some helpful tips
More and more eCommerce companies are resorting to the flash sales strategy, particularly in the fashion industry.
It is precisely in the fashion and accessories sector, in fact, that major market places that have made flash sales their main business model have begun to take their first steps (e.g., Privalia, SaldiPrivati, VentePrivée….)
Although the flash sales promotional model fits like a glove for fashion industry eCommerce, it should be pointed out that any eCommerce can take advantage of it as a valuable promotional marketing activity.
Here then are some useful tips:
- Keep the goal of your special promotion clear;
- select the right target audience;
- allow the user to easily find the products or product being promoted;
- Create anticipation around the offer launch and engage your target audience;
- Give visibility to the discount;
- Establish a fixed time to take advantage of the offer;
- Promote flash sales by leveraging all your marketing channels.
Increase sales with flash sales: it starts with good on-site communication!
As is the case with any promotion, much of the success of a flash sale is due to the communication activities carried out to support it.
The more visible the offer is, the more sales opportunities related to it will be numerous.
ADS campaigns, social media marketing activities, newsletters, SMS, push notifications and much more: there are really numerous channels that can be exploited to give visibility to one’s offer, but we must not forget that the first vehicle of visibility is precisely the eCommerce site.
It is important that the offer is from the start clearly visible already by accessing the online shop.
With this in mind, behavioural messages designed specifically for time-based offers can be an effective vehicle for promoting the offer itself. Blendee makes it possible to communicate time-based offers by means of effective and eye-catching templates created specifically to show users the product under special promotion.
Configurable graphically in every single detail, they can be customized in content and products offered according to the user’s own segment: thus, different flash sales can be created for users who are newsletter subscribers or registered to the eCommerce site rather than for first-time users, or for high-spending users rather than for users who rarely access and purchase on the shop.
Conclusions
Creating flash sales can be an effective promotional strategy in eCommerce, if cleverly constructed.
Indeed, it is important to remember how it has positive impacts on sales growth especially in the short term and how, on the other hand, it is difficult to sustain in the medium to long term.
By carefully profiling and segmenting your audience, you can make the most of the potential of flash sales, personalizing them in every little detail.
