- $75.1bn in a single day.
- $4.8bn in a single day.
- One million in a single weekend.
Before you wonder what random statistics I’m presenting, let me introduce you to these record-breaking sales numbers generated by online stores during flash sale events.
I know they seem INSANE! But they’re real. Online shoppers look forward to these days when the full price of their favorite product drops by 30-60%.
It’s all good. But, the real problem is that many eCommerce merchants (it may include you) don’t know how to run a flash sale in eCommerce effectively and generate the higher same revenue.
In the end, they miss a lot of opportunities and receive disappointing results.
These short and sweet sales require the right approach to achieve your desired results. And that’s what many merchants are missing out on.
Well, for you, I’ve prepared a comprehensive flash sale checklist so that you don’t miss out on any chances to make your flash sale a big success.
Doesn’t matter if you’re an experienced merchant or it is your first flash sale, this eCommerce flash sale checklist ensures your next flash sale is a huge success.
Before starting with checklist points, let’s have a basic knowledge of what flash sales are. To clear our base on this topic.
What are eCommerce Flash Sales?
Flash sales mean short-term sales – that run from a short period of a few hours to a few days. They use psychological flash sale tricks and attracts customer to drive impulse buying decisions by encouraging them to act fast.
As customers, we’re familiar to flash sales, and once in a lifetime, we’ve been part of them.
Why do merchants run Flash Sale?
Merchants find flash sales more beneficial than other sales because they:
- Create an urgency to buy
- Have deep discounts than usual
- Create fear of missing out (FOMO)
- Have a marketing impact that helps create excitement
They’re the reason why customers love them so much. If you’re looking to launch a flash sale for your eCommerce business, you can avail a long list of benefits. And some major benefits are added right below.
Benefits to Running a Flash Sale:
- Boosts online store sales
- Increases average order value
- Attracts new customers
- Clears excess inventory
- Ensures lead generation
Now, let’s go to our main topic of “eCommerce Flash Sale Checklist” to understand how you’re going to run a flash sale successfully, and which steps are worth following.
eCommerce Flash Sale Checklist
Launching Flash Sales is a complex task. While flash sales are common during the holiday season, your customers are loaded with ads and marketing emails. Hence, there is a risk that your customers may feel flash sale fatigue and can become numb to your marketing efforts.
To ensure your eCommerce flash sale climbs the stairs to success, you need a flash sale strategy that works. This checklist includes expert-approved strategies to let your flash sale work as a sensational sale.
So consider them while launching your eCommerce flash sale.
1. Know Your Objective for Flash Sales
It’s time to know – Flash sales are more than just boosting sales and revenue. It can help to build relationships, welcomes new customers, and create a loyal customer base that keeps coming back.
You need to know your objective before you start any preparations for your upcoming flash sales. If you don’t know the objective of why you’re conducting a flash sale, you won’t be able to measure results correctly.
So, decide what you want to achieve. And check if you can relate to any of the objectives below.
- Want to drive traffic to your website?
- Looking to boost sales?
- Clear out old inventory (at a steep discount)?
- Attract new customers?
- Want to retain existing customers?
- Generate hype for a specific product?
- Increase conversion rate?
- Or all of them?
Whatever your goal is, just make sure it’s clear enough to measure your success.
Actions to follow
You can note down your flash sale goals.
- Primary Goals: __________________________
- Secondary Goals: ___________________________
2. Pick the Correct Time for Flash Sales
Timing is the ruler for your flash sales— It will decide if your flash sale will be a hit or flop.
Then, when is your perfect time to launch your flash sale? To figure out, you need to conduct basic thinking on the shopping habits of your target audience.
You necessarily need to make your research, gather your data, and find the perfect moment to launch your sale. Doing this will help you find a sweet spot where your target market is highly responsive, and launching your flash sales can be the perfect decision.
Don’t forget factors that can influence their availability, some of those can be:
- Time zone differences
- Seasonal trends or events happening at that same time
- Purchasing habits of your target audience
Actions to follow
- Finalize the exact date and time for your flash sale
- Specify the duration in which the sale will be active for customers. (e.g. 2 Hours, 24 Hours, etc.)
3. Choose Products to Feature in the Sale
While running flash sales, it becomes a confusing task to figure out particular products that may work best for sale.
Your target audience and objective for the flash sale will decide the products to feature in the sale. Just make sure that the flash sale items you choose are relevant to the sale and popular in your customer base.
Remember, your flash sale will be a success only if your customers can’t resist amazing deals on their favorite products. Below I’ve added some steps you can follow to shine with your flash sale.
Actions to follow
Step 1: Examine previous sales data and identify
- Best-selling products
- Higher profit margin products
- Poorly performing products
Step 2: Stay on the hunt for industry trends
- Find high-selling products
Step 3: Select a range of different products
- Offer varied products at different prices that appeal to different groups of customers
- Bundle items together for discounts and tiered pricing
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