How To Run A Successful Flash Sale On BigCommerce
There are a massive number of flash sales occurring every shopping holiday season such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, etc. Yearly, Americans spend $2.5 billion on thousands of such limited-time deals. Hence, with eCommerce businesses, flash sales are a great way to generate more sales. Are you seeking a guide to run a successful flash sale on your BigCommerce store? Take a deep dive into this article to get what you are looking for. What is a flash sale and how it benefits your BigCommerce business? A flash sale is a discount or promotion that eCommerce stores run. It only exists in a short period (usually around 1 to 3 days). Additionally, the sale may offer higher discounts or promotions than normal, offer a limited selection, or a limited quantity of a specific item. It is considered as one of the effective marketing techniques to increase your sales quickly. The effect of this is based on the attractive discounts your store offers and customers’ psychology of FOMO (the fear of missing out). Higher discounts and urgency tap into customers’ fear of missing out, which leads to impulse buying. A flash sale plays an important role in eCommerce business strategy because it brings great benefits. Generate more revenue The combination of special discounts and a limited time motivate visitors to make a purchase. Acquire new customers Visitors may like your products and the deals you have to offer. They could return to your website to make additional purchases. Get rid of excess inventory Flash sales are the good time for you to unload inventory that has been in stock for too long. For example, you can sell out last winter masses before a new winter comes in. Increase brand awareness A marketing campaign for the flash sale makes your brand get visible to the public, resulting in increased brand awareness. How to make a profitable flash sale Now that you know what a flash sale is and how it benefits your eCommerce business. Let’s look at how to run it successfully. 01. Prepare for the flash sale Before running your sale, it is imperative to plan and prepare carefully for what you are going to do. This step involves: Check your stock On a flash sale, products may sell out quicker than you expect. Thus, check it carefully to make sure you have enough inventory in stock for the people who want to buy. An early out-of-stock of a discount item will leave shoppers with a negative experience. Prepare your operations team Although the sale only takes place in a short time, you should have a team in charge of the campaign. There are more things to do than you think. Thus, organize your operations team in advance and ensure all the members will coordinate smoothly. Prepare for handling high traffic spikes During a flash sale, e-tailers usually experience massive surges in traffic when a large number of shoppers visit their site. A technical stack ensures that your site can accommodate a spike in traffic without any downtime. Prepare for shipping and delivery People often suffer from waiting too long for the item they purchase. Therefore, prepare ahead for mass shipping to offer customers a seamless experience. 02. Segment types of customers For a flash sale, you should only focus on two types: loyal customers and potential customers. For loyal customers Send your loyal customers an email to your subscription list or private fan group. Segment your list clearly to avoid uncomfortable situations. Don’t send emails to customers who already purchased the products you offer a massive discount. They don’t like seeing other people get the same item for 50% less. Send an email to remind customers who haven’t purchased an item from your store for a long time and encourage people who abandoned carts to continue their transaction. Segment customers and send email Abandonment carts email reminder For new potential customers Include an inventory count-down on your flash product page. A shopper may buy your product when seeing many others do. Send emails to disengaged customers and new members who haven’t made their first purchase yet. Re-engage new members Export customers who haven’t purchased for a long time on a spreadsheet and send them emails via an email automation tool. 03. Schedule your deal You need to set the time when your flash sale will start and end. Note that your flash sale period should be short. Research shows that: Two-hour flash sales result in an email-open rate 14% higher than average. Three-hour flash sales have the best transaction to click rates 59% higher. Nevertheless, we suggest you use an automation tool like Atom8 to schedule your flash sale period in advance. Atom8 will help you publish/unpublish products/categories on schedule, auto-change sale prices, publish/unpublish content and banner ads, auto-switch themes, auto-segment customers, etc. Schedule a flash sale Find out here to know why we said Atom8 is a good solution for your flash sale campaign and get a FREE demo. 04. Promote the flash sale It’s vital to drum up excitement for your sale early to build anticipation. The more eyes on your campaign, the better it is. You should start promoting around one week before the flash sale launch because your audience will forget if it is longer than that period. Some methods to promote your sale are: Post about the flash sale on social media. Reach out to influencers or third-parties publishers. Launch a pay-per-click ad campaign. Final note A flash sale is a smart and effective marketing strategy when implemented correctly. It creates a boost in revenue, decreases overstocked items, and generates leads. However, it can take more effort to plan and carry out. We hope that our guide will help you make the best of your flash sale.
Multichannel eCommerce To Boost Sales
Multichannel eCommerce increases the chance that your product is sold. However, it also makes it more challenging to manage and streamline your store. In this write-up, we’ll discuss how to make use of multichannel eCommerce to boost your sales revenue. What is multi-channel eCommerce When an online retailer offers goods through multiple marketplaces and channels, it is called multichannel eCommerce. This is a good way to expand the brand’s visibility and consumer base. Statistics show that those who sell on two marketplaces see a 120% rise in sales. How to Setup a Multi-channel E-commerce website Choose your priorities Don’t just start using any platform you come across. Every marketplace has its own pros and cons. Therefore, some of them might not work well for your brand. You might be tempted to run to Amazon as an eCommerce behemoth, but be sure you’re willing to pay the price. To make the best decision, you must weigh all of the channels from various perspectives. All payment options must work. Delivery must be cost-effective. And it should support the brand marketing activities. Once you’ve found the channels that seem to be a good fit for you, you’ll need to spend some time figuring out what type of people are using them. It is critical to gain a deeper understanding of your consumers across all channels. This will provide you with insights into their beliefs, purchasing habits, and unique product preferences. For example, if you know they like local handmade products, you’ll go with Etsy, and if speedy delivery is important to them, you’ll have to go with Amazon. Keep an eye on your stock Multiple networks might present logistical problems that necessitate extensive coordination. With a high volume of sales, there’re more chances of overselling for being out of stock if not managed properly. Therefore inventory tracking is essential. Poor product integration leads to a poor shopping experience, which can result in a loss of loyal customers and negative feedback and ratings. In other words, the cornerstone should be to have good customer service. Customers are irritated by unavailable stock, which costs businesses more than $600 billion worldwide. Meanwhile, overstocking (the opposite extreme) costs them more than $400 billion. As a result, it’s important to centralize your operations across all platforms by synchronizing your inventory. Sellbrite, Ecomdash, and ChannelAdvisor are examples of multichannel sale tools that can handle fulfillment, delivery, and accounting. Instead of the time-consuming task of handling each platform individually and hoping to pay for all inventory, you’ll be able to find new ways to increase revenue. Centralizing processes and automation would help eliminate human error. Whilst regular inventory reports will show what is in stock at any given time, resulting in accurate statistics across all networks. Make the appearance your own Your multichannel eCommerce website must be attractive (in the sense of elegant rather than flashy!). Despite the time-consuming upkeep, it’s much more important to maintain a constant look and feel across all devices. With more people shopping on their mobile devices, you’ll need to deliver automatic discounts, personalized checkouts, and intuitive storefronts to create an engaging customer journey. You can use a branded mobile app to communicate with these mobile-first consumers. Make sure your server runs smoothly on both the iPad and iPhone and Apple’s iOS and Android devices and operating systems. You’ll be able to send out push alerts for regular sales and use coupons and QR codes in advertising to reward loyal customers. Final note The first steps are the same as with any other e-commerce site. Still, it’s critical to choose the right platform because it’s the heart of your company and must be capable of establishing a substantial presence through multiple platforms.
