How to run a flash sale in 2021

What is a Flash Sale?

A Flash Sale is when you price your products at a discount for a limited period of time. By doing so, you entice more visitors to your store, and increase the incentive for people to make a purchase now, rather than later.

Why use Flash Sales in 2021?

Unlike other sales strategies, running a flash sale is one of the fastest strategies of getting more customers, and more products sold. Done correctly, you can set it up quickly to boost revenue and drive more traffic to your store. But it does come with it's consequences.

Here are some reasons why you should run a flash sale:

Clear out dead inventory

Inventory is expensive, and its an often underestimated cost by businesses. When inventory isn't getting sold or liquidated, it every day increases its cost to you. A well designed flash sale helps you clear as much of this inventory as possible.

Attract new customers

Running a flash sale creates a good excuse to spread the word about your business, and get mentioned in places that normally would not talk about your brand. It also entices new buyers that have been sitting on the fence of wether to make their first purchase at your brand.

Best Practices for a Flash Sale in 2021

1. 3 hours is the optimal duration to run a flash sale. You can get up to 14% more sales than average
2. Use words such as "Save $$", not "Get $$"
3. The optimal number of products to run a flash sale for is: 15-36. Too many products, and you'll spread your customers' focus too thin across your offerings. Too few products, and you'll not interest enough customers.
4. Promote your flash sale up a few days in advance, but only up to a week ahead at max. Too long, and people are likely to forget about it or get distracted emotionally by something else. 
5. Monitor your stock carefully during your flash sale so you can respond quickly to demand.

How to reprice your products for a flash sale?

Understand your customer's purchasing power

Your flash sale may attract customers who are willing to save money, but might be willing to spend more overall. The average total basket value during a flash sale can be estimated from your regular sales.

Analyze your competitors

Track the prices of your competitor's products to understand where your products stand price-wise in your customers' eyes.
With a tool like Konigle, you can automate most of this work, by adding product URLs to your Competitor Pricing tool.

How to promote your Flash Sale

Everyone is running some sale and promotion these days, and there is more ecommerce stores than ever before. So to make a flash sale to work, you really need to consider all the factors needed to stand out amongst the crowd.

• Email Promotions
• Through flash sale websites, such as gr8.deals
• Running ads
• Sharing on social media

How to run a flash sale on Shopify

Flash sales need to happen quickly. You're already reducing your margins during such a sale, so taking too long to set up a sale can make the whole endaveur so costly that it's not worth the effort.

Common questions about running a Flash Sale

How often should I run a flash sale?

Consider your customer's buying cycle
If customers are only buying your products during flash sales, the following reasons are possible:

1. You're running flash sales too often, or not providing enough value to your long-term buyers
2. You have a product-market fit issue, and may need to look into product improvements or replacements.

Isn't it always better to sell on value, not on price?

Running a flash sale doesn't mean you're no longer selling on value. The most successful flash sales come from creating longer term relationships with the new customers that you have acquired.

What is the quickest way to run a flash sale in 2021 ?

Use the storewide bulk pricing shortcut inside Konigle to set up a flash sale in less than a minute. Sign up