Flashing sale: What is a Flash Sale? A Step-By-Step Guide to Make Your Sales Event a Success

Jul 16, 2023 alexxlab

What is a Flash Sale? A Step-By-Step Guide to Make Your Sales Event a Success

Why do deals feel so good?

A fave retailer drops into your inbox with the subject line, “30% off everything + free shipping. 3 hours only!”

Is that an actual shiver of thrill you feel? Who knows — maybe you’ll think about it later. After you’ve snagged those items you’ve been eyeing forever (or at least for a few weeks).

A few mouse-clicks and you now can breathe easy: your order will arrive in 3-5 business days, and you’ve just been successfully targeted by a flash sale.

This article covers:

What is a flash sale?
Is a flash sale right for your business?
8 tips how to run a great flash sale
Why segmentation makes your flash sales better

What is a flash sale?

A flash sale is when an online store offers substantial discounts or promotions for a very short period of time. The main goals of a flash sale strategy are to get online shoppers to impulse buy, to increase short-term sales, or to sell their surplus stock.

Flash sales are different from regular online sales in 3 specific ways:

Discounts and promotions are notably better than what your business usually offers
The time span of a flash sale is much shorter than your online store’s normal sale window
A limited selection of products are on sale, often combined with reduced stock availability

Flash sales are especially popular on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but they can attract online shoppers at any time. Some websites even offer “daily deal” flash sales as their main business model (though not without some drawbacks).

A short history of the “Daily Deal” website (and what it teaches you about how to time a flash sale)

Even though daily deal websites have been around since 2004, let’s talk about Groupon. Remember Groupon? Launched in 2008, they immediately became king of the daily deal mountain. Similar websites quickly multiplied (like discount bunnies) across the Internet.

And no wonder — from January 2010 through January 2011, Groupon’s U. S. revenue grew from $11 million to $89 million. That was their monthly revenue.

But by 2015, Groupon’s stock value had dropped by 86%. Many other daily deal flash websites shared in Groupon’s troubles: their reaction was to downsize, go out of business, or alter their flash sales model.

Consumers developed “daily deal fatigue” from the endless daily-deal email offers in their inboxes. Groupon’s stock price dropped by 86% in 4 years. As of August 26th, 2019, the stock sits at $2.36 (source: Business Insider)

People love flash sales — as long as the sales don’t happen 24-7. When flash sales are rare, one-time events, they give customers that extra jolt to act fast and buy now.

A lot of traditional online stores use special flash sale events as a sales strategy. Research shows that flash sale emails:

Increase click-to-open rates for 74% of businesses
Increase transaction rates for 67% of businesses
Get satisfied customers to return and spend an average of 385% more

Those are some pretty drool-worthy email statistics. So how do businesses know if a flash sale will work for them?

Is a flash sale right for your business?

Anybody can run a flash sale online — but that doesn’t mean a flash sale is the right choice for your e-commerce business. There are pros and cons you need to consider before you decide to run a flash sale.

The pros of a flash sale

A successful flash sale can:

Sell excess inventory: If you have a few great products that haven’t sold as well as you’d hoped, a flash sale can move that inventory to make room for new, in-demand products.
Increase customer loyalty: A substantial flash sale discount is a way to pay it forward to your best customers. When customers have the warm fuzzies for your business, they’re more likely to buy from you in the future.
Create FOMO: When you limit both your time window and stock, people who missed out may have grabby hands for your product even more. They definitely will want to sign up for your email list so that they don’t miss future promotions.
Attract new customers: Flash sales can be a low-stakes way for people to try your products. If they’re satisfied, you just might get a brand-spanking-new loyal customer that will buy from you again and again (and again).

The cons of a flash sale

An unsuccessful flash sale can:

Cut into your profits: How much profit do you keep from each product you sell? If that profit is cut by another 25%…30%…or even 50% — what will that spell out for your business’s short- and long-term sustainability?
Attract the “wrong” type of customer: A flash sale can attract one-time buyers. Once they snag a deal, they vanish to never be seen again. If you want your flash sale to bring in new loyal customers, you want to watch out for this kind of marauding bargain “pirate.”
Lead to disengaged customers: If you’re pushing a flash sale too hard (or too often) you risk flash sale fatigue. That’s when customers pull a Rhett Butler and basically say, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn,” to your flash sale marketing campaign.
Hurt your reputation: A flash sale can hurt your reputation if you aren’t clear on how your sales event will be run…or if you fail to deliver great customer service afterward.

If you decide the benefits of a flash sale outweigh the potential risks, there are strategies you can use to give your flash sale a better chance of success.

8 tips on how to run a great flash sale

How can you make sure a flash sale has a real, positive, long-term impact on your business?

Here are 8 tips on how to run a great flash sale:

The 4 benefits of a flash sale: Selling extra stock, slow season sales, visibility, and customer satisfaction
Segment these 2 types of customers (your target market)
How to time your flash sale (and why shorter is better)
How to offer flash sale deals that go beyond your normal sales discount
Prepare your shipping strategy in advance
Use urgency to build hype for your flash sale
The 3 things about your flash sale that customers need to know
Don’t overdo flash sales

1.

The 4 benefits of a flash sale: Selling extra stock, slow season sales, visibility, and customer satisfaction

There are 4 main benefits of a flash sale. Which one is the reason you want to run a flash sale?

Do you want to run a flash sale so you can:

Sell your extra stock?
Increase sales during your slow season?
Create more visibility for your business?
Boost customer loyalty and satisfaction?

Once you choose the benefit(s) you want to focus on, it’s time to decide which audience segment — your flash sale target market — you want to advertise your online sale too.

2. Segment these 2 types of customers (your target market)

Who can you market an online sale to? If I quickly count out all the possibilities on my fingers there’s…723 different audiences (give or take 10,000). But for a flash sale, you want to focus on just 2 types: loyal customers and potential customers.

Of those 2 possible audiences, you need to narrow it down to one. Who you target affects nearly every other decision you’ll make about your flash sale.

Ways to run a flash sale to target your loyal customers (as an “appreciation sale”)

Keep it to insiders: To make sure your loyal customers have access to your sale, only send your flash sale email campaign to your subscription list or private fan group.
Segment your list to avoid an awkward situation: Broadcast emails have their place, and you might think flash marketing fits nicely. But that’s not the case — don’t send your flash sale email campaign to the segment of your customer base who already purchased the items you’re massively discounting. They won’t be happy when they see other people can now get the same item for 50% less.
Win back inactive customers: A flash sale is a great way to target your lapsed customers as part of a win-back email campaign. Remind them why they signed up for your emails in the first place.
Target people who abandoned carts: 75% of people who add something to their online cart leave without paying you. A flash sale can convert some of those abandoned carts into completed sales.

As a small business owner myself, experience shows that some customers deeply believe “nothing ventured, nothing gained.” If they boldly ask for a discount, you might just give in.

Which products should you sell?

When you target current customers, choose a product that:

Has high page views but a low conversion rate — simply put, a product that your customers look at but don’t buy
You have excess stock and want to quickly move to make space for new products

Ways to run a flash sale to target potential customers (or to get more repeat customers)

Popularity breeds popularity: Include an inventory countdown on your flash product page. When people see a product that is popular with other customers, that strongly influences people’s next decision — to buy.
Bypass your email list: Your email list is already full of (hopefully) engaged customers. You want more customers. If you send an email campaign, keep it segmented to:
- Disengaged customers
- List members who haven’t made their first purchase yet
Identify competitor’s customers: Do you have competitors that sell similar products? Market to these competitors’ social media audiences. In a study conducted by Curalate, they found that 3 out of every 4 consumers have purchased a product they’ve seen in a social media post.
Run limited-time Google Ads: Trigger flash sale ads by the exact keywords associated with your flash sale products

People spend a daily average of nearly 2.5 hours on social networks and messaging. That’s a lot of opportunities to get your sale noticed. (source: GlobalWebIndex)

Which products should you sell?

If your goal is to get new customers, choose a product that:

Is popular with a competitor’s customers, and flash sell it at a much lower price
Is a signature item that your brand is known for (or that you want to be known for)

3.

How to time your flash sale (and why shorter is better)

How long is a flash sale, anyway? Flash sales should be short by definition. It’s a flash sale, not a long-exposure sale.

If your sale runs over 24 hours, is it even a flash sale? (Source: Experian)

The shorter the flash sale, the greater the urgency to act quickly. A study from Experian found that:

2-hour flash sales result in email open rates 14% higher than average
3-hour flash sales result in email open rates 59% higher than average

When should you schedule your flash sale? Delve into your sales analytics and check:

What day of the week do people purchase?
What time of day do people purchase?
When are your email open rates the highest?

4. How to offer flash sale deals that go beyond your normal discount

How do you find the sweet spot between a great discount that makes the “sold out” flag pop up on your product — and keeping so little of your profits that you may as well be Santa Claus?

You don’t want to undercut future sales — but unless you sell high-priced luxury goods, your basic discount just isn’t gonna cut it. These days, people often expect a discount just to sign up for a mailing list.

A good rule of thumb is to price your flash deals slightly higher than your lowest possible price — which is usually your Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Tweet this!!

When people can get up to 20% off just to type their email address and click “join,” why would they run to your website for a 10% off flash sale? Yawn.

5. Prepare your shipping strategy in advance

You don’t want to discount your product so much that you basically give it away for free. But there’s one thing you can give away that everyone likes: shipping.

Free shipping is a great incentive bonus for a flash sale because:

48% of customers will add additional items to their carts to qualify for free shipping
Emails that offer free shipping have 72% more engagement
Free shipping can generate 53.3% more revenue than those that don’t

Colorpop gives free shipping on orders over $30, so lots of customers will buy extra flash deal items to hit that minimum (like I did)

Nearly two-thirds of customers expect their orders to arrive in 1-3 days…and more than half of customers want you to offer overnight shipping.

A flash sale can be a double-edged sword: if your sale is wildly successful and you have oodles of orders, how can you balance what customers want with what you can actually do?

To keep your customers’ expectations realistic, make sure you:

Make it clear up-front and in advance what your shipping turn-around time will be
Have extra help to get your orders out fast
Pre-pack products to make for quick order fulfillment

6. Use urgency to build hype for your flash sale

A great flash sale combines great merchandise with a great discount. But even the best flash deal will fail if no one knows about it.

You can use urgency to build up some flash sale hype.

When someone tells themselves, “I can buy this later,” they have no reason to buy from you now. A flash sale turns that thought on its head — they can’t buy it later.

“Opportunities are more desirable the more restricted they are. ” – Laura Brannon, social psychologist

The clever animation may grab your attention, but knowing that you only have until 3:00 pm to snag 30% off (and free shipping!) is what will get you to the J. Crew Factory website

5 ways to create urgency for your flash sale

Be available on social: Use Facebook, Instagram, and other social media channels to actively engage with your customers throughout the flash sale. Be your own hypester!
Remind your customers: When your sale enters its final hour, use your social channels to remind your fans they “only have _____ minutes left before this sale is over!”
Use a countdown timer: Few things up the pressure like a race against the clock. Add countdown timers to your flash sale landing page and announcement emails.
Keep your copy short: Concise copy is a marketing email best practice. Really push that time is of the essence with flash sale microcopy that doesn’t waste people’s time.
Show the discount in your subject line: Emails with your discount in the subject line have an average conversion rate of just over 18% — compare that to the 3.8% conversion rate average for emails that don’t.

Many e-commerce and marketing platforms offer plugins that you can use to display countdown timers.

Check out these articles for in-depth tips to best market your flash sale:

10 Cyber Monday Email Examples to Inspire Your Next Campaign
20 Announcement Email Examples to Hype Your Product Launch
Email Coupons: Types, Best Practices, and Everything Else You Need to Know

7. The 3 things about your flash sale that customers need to know

To be honest, would you enjoy being the victim of a bait-and-switch prank?

So why would your customers enjoy it? If there’s confusion about your flash sale, people will feel like they’ve been tricked. That leads to resentment. You may have made a sale…but you’ve probably lost a customer.

3 things to make sure customers know in advance about your flash sale are:

What products are on sale? Make it explicit what is (and is not) part of your sale
Is there a limited quantity? 45% of flash sale items sell out faster than expected. If there’s a limited quantity (but customers don’t know that), they’ll be hella frustrated when they show up to your website just to discover the product they want is already sold out.
What is your return policy? If your return policy is clear, you’ll cut down on complaints due to buyer’s remorse in the days following your sale.

A flash sale is a deal between you and the customer. You offer a significantly reduced product and they agree to buy it with whatever limitations you attach. Don’t be afraid to stick to your guns and stand behind your TOS. But always try to keep the customer happy (within reason).

8. Don’t overdo flash sales

What happens if you get a little too generous with your flash sale frequency?

Customers will wait for discounts: People will quickly learn that if they just hold off a bit longer, they’ll score deep discounts from you.
Your reputation sinks: Too many sales erode the quality of your products in customers’ minds. Surely if your product was all that great, you wouldn’t have to have so many flash sales?

A great rule of thumb is to run a flash sale no more than three times a year so that your flash sales are truly special events.

Segmentation makes your flash sale (actually,

all your sales) better

What makes someone open your flash sale email? The best way to get that click is to send them email campaigns that they already know they want to read.

Different groups of people care about different things. So speak to them differently. With ActiveCampaign, any time you send an email you can easily target as many segments of your email list as you’d like.

Webpage visits? Personal interests? Products Purchased? Location? All are just a few of the many ways you can segment your lists in ActiveCampaign.

Email blasts just don’t interest today’s savvy customers — and if you automate your flash sale emails, your marketing campaigns get even better results. An automated email series will help build the hype you need to get noticed. Your emails will be more personalized…and more likely to get the sales you want from the audience you want.

A carefully run flash sale increases the number of happy customers and your bottom line. Flash sales are exciting if done right; they make your business stand out, attract new customers, and earn trust.

What is a Flash Sale? A Beginner’s Guide for Retailers

As a shopper, there’s nothing better than popping into your favorite store or logging onto its website and discovering that it’s having a flash sale. With an unannounced, limited-time sale of this nature, you’re bound to score some deeply discounted merchandise.

As a merchant, flash sales are also a sweet deal. They’re a great way to generate cash flow, clear inventory and attract new customers. Whether you sell online, in-store or both, offering these special markdowns can greatly benefit your business.

In this guide to flash sales, we’re covering these topics in depth:

Defining a flash sale?
The benefits of a flash sale
Flash sale tips for retailers
Flash sale tips for omnichannel merchants
How to use your POS to maximize a flash sale

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What is a flash sale?

So, what is a flash sale? A flash sale is a sale in which items are discounted for a limited time. This kind of promotion typically lasts anywhere from a few hours to one or two days. The limited-time nature of flash sales creates a sense of urgency that encourages customers to make a purchase now instead of putting it off for later (and potentially forgetting about it).

While their limited length is what makes a flash sale a flash sale, these promotions also typically have an element of surprise. Flash sales usually aren’t announced beforehand, so shoppers don’t know to expect them.

Flash sales also mean deep discounts. They typically offer greater markdowns than during other sales.

Flash sales are also usually limited to a specific object or a certain category of object, rather than applying to a shop’s entire inventory.

Both brick-and-mortar and ecommerce retailers leverage flash sales to move inventory, making them an omnichannel strategy.

Black Friday sales are a type of flash sale, since, although customers usually know they’re coming up, they only last for one or two days, products are deeply discounted and the sale items typically aren’t announced beforehand.

Benefits of a flash sale

Now that you know the meaning of flash sale, let’s explore what makes this strategy so beneficial to retailers.

Move inventory

These limited-time promotions are an effective technique for getting rid of inventory that you’ve been having a difficult time selling otherwise, that’s been on the shelves for too long, or that you simply have too much of.

By moving inventory more quickly, you’ll be able to reduce your inventory days on hand and make room for new, more desirable merchandise.

Generate cash flow

Flash sales help liquidate inventory, which generates cash flow and reduces how much you have to spend on storage.

Because of their limited-time nature, flash sales create a sense of fear of missing out in customers, which entices them to pull the trigger now, rather than abandoning their carts and never making a purchase.

Boost repeat business

When customers are aware that you run flash sales, they’ll be more likely to stop by your shop or check your ecommerce store more often in order to not miss out on a surprise sale. They’ll inevitably purchase something, even if it’s at full price.

Flash sales also encourage customers to sign up for your email notifications or follow you on social media to ensure they’re notified as soon as you have another promotion. Once you have this captive audience, you can send them updates about new products and sales.

Attract new customers

Flash sales help introduce new customers to your business. If someone has been eyeing your products for a long time, but hasn’t bought them yet, a flash sale that discounts these products makes it a no brainer to go for it.

And, if these new customers love the products they bought on sale, they may come back for more, buy things at full price, and become lucrative, loyal customers for life.

Flash sale tips for retailers

If you run a brick-and-mortar shop, implement these strategies for a more effective flash sale.

Create FOMO

Instill FOMO—a fear of missing out—in your customers by having store associates inform them of the sale by using language that emphasizes its short-term nature. Phrases like “today only,” “limited time,” and “you won’t want to miss out” will do the trick. Make sure that this messaging is also prominent on your sale signage.

Focus on reusable signage

Because of its limited-time nature, it doesn’t make sense for you to invest a lot of time in creating brand new signage for every flash sale you put on. Completely rearranging your window display for a flash sale, for example, just won’t be worth your time.

Instead, create signage that you can quickly customize and reuse every time a flash sale rolls around. For example, you could share the details of your latest sale via a chalkboard sidewalk sign, lightbox sign, dry erase board or a TV screen or monitor.

Consider your displays

Just like with signage, you don’t want to invest a ton of time and labor costs into creating a painstaking display for flash sales. Instead, put all of the items discounted in the promotion in one section or use a tag or signage to designate relevant items.

Leverage digital marketing

Even if you don’t sell your products online, your shop likely has an online presence. Use it to alert shoppers that a flash sale is going on RIGHT NOW and if they don’t come into the store, they’ll miss out! Use email marketing to let subscribers know when a sale begins. Post about it on your social media channels. Highlight what’s on sale and emphasize the limited-time nature of the promotion.

Need more ideas? Brush up on these retail marketing tips.

American Israeli fashion brand Ruti, for example, uses its website’s homepage to alert shoppers to a 72-hour flash sale on knitwear.

Flash sale tips for omnichannel merchants

Implement these helpful hints to merge your flash sale efforts into an omnichannel strategy while selling online and in-store.

Sync promotions

Sync your promotions so that shoppers access the same discounts no matter how customers shop with you. For example, if you’re discounting a frying pan at 55% online, make sure the sale in your brick-and-mortar shop matches.

Optimize your flash sale strategy

Alternatively, you could maximize profit margins by giving different discounts based on demand per sales channel.

Let’s say that you sell a trash can that comes in pink and blue. The blue trash cans sell well online, but don’t sell well in-store, and the pink trash can sells well in-store, but not online. You could discount only the blue one in-store during your flash sale, and discount only the pink one online.

At time of writing, Urban Outfitters included the cream and rose versions of a desk lamp in its online sale, but not the gold version of the lamp. If the gold lamp doesn’t sell well in-store, the brand could very well have discounted that color at its shops.

Pay attention to inventory

Make sure your inventory levels are synced up—both in-store and online—to avoid stockouts. Using an omnichannel POS with inventory management software can help.

Create a sense of urgency

Implementing a countdown of your flash sale on your website is a great way to create a sense of urgency. A countdown timer, placed either in the banner on your ecommerce website or on the product page of each discounted item, alerts potential customers that time is ticking on their chance to benefit from a great deal.

H&M’s home page, for example, alerts online shoppers that they only have 11 hours left to take advantage of a 20% discount.

Ensure a smooth customer experience

If everything goes according to plan, a flash sale will create high demand in your store and on your ecommerce website. Prepare for worst-case scenarios, questions and more to make sure shoppers have a smooth experience and keep coming back for more.

Consider your shipping strategy to prevent delays. Stock up on shipping supplies and equip your business with the ability to buy postage at your store or warehouse instead of waiting in line at the post office.

Make sure you have enough sales associates on the floor and customer service reps available to answer questions online.

Publish FAQs on your website about special policies regarding returns and shipping on flash sale items, and make sure store staff know how to answer them. Removing friction from the sales process will help products fly off the shelves.

How a POS can help

Your retail POS system is your sidekick in creating a successful flash sale.

Use its data reports to identify products that would be good candidates for the sale. Look at products that you’ve been having trouble selling.

If you plan on varying discounts for different colors or sizes depending on sales performance, use POS data to optimize your pricing strategy.

After your sale is over, use your POS to track sales so you can do a retrospective on the performance of the sale. This retrospective can (and should) also inform upcoming purchasing and promotional decisions.

Wrapping up: What is a flash sale?

Now that you know what a flash sale is, you understand that it’s a fantastic strategy for moving inventory and exciting your customer base. When used together as a one-stop commerce platform, Lightspeed’s POS and eCommerce capabilities make it easy to build these limited-time sales into your omnichannel strategy.

Talk to us today to learn how to get started.

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Flashing dog collar clip in St. Petersburg

Flashing dog collar clip

5.0

Manufacturer: Trixie

Material: Plastic

Country: Germany

Product type: beacon for collar

Animal type: dog

Product prices are valid only when placing an order in the online store having individually Certain items cannot be returned or exchanged.

Description
Recommendations
Reviews ()

Flashing dog collar clip

2 light modes: flashing/solid
material: silicone
with water-repellent coating
operating time: about 45 hours in flashing mode and 20 hours in continuous light mode
assorted colors

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LED strip flashes: causes and action

Immediately after connection or after some time of operation, the LED strip may start flashing, giving light pulses, like a stroboscope. The light dims or goes out completely, and then lights up again. You can fix these problems yourself. Further more about the possible reasons why the LED strip began to flash. Consider the cases of blinking immediately when turned on, after turning off and in the off state.

Causes of blinking when turned on

If the LED strip does not blink immediately after turning on, but after a couple of minutes, then in most cases the reason is hidden in the power supply. Its technical characteristics are not enough to meet the needs of the tape. As a result, the voltage drops and flashing appears. To prevent this from happening, you need to correctly calculate the power of the power supply.

A similar problem may occur even if the store worked fine when tested. In the future, immediately after connecting, when the tape works for a while and heats up, problems will appear.

This often happens if the actual power of the power supply is less than that indicated in the instrument’s passport. In such situations, the LED strip “flashes”, blinks and immediately goes out, as the unit goes into protection mode. This is typical for cheap Chinese models. It is better to initially purchase high-quality power supplies from well-known manufacturers.

Another reason why the LED strip blinks when on may be the use of different power supplies. They differ in voltage, therefore, in the case of extended illumination of 15-20 m, they may fail. This happens especially often with RGB tapes. Their colors may be included with some delay or skipped altogether.

Incorrect soldering

If the backlight first blinks and then the entire area after the soldering point stops working, then the reason is the quality of the connection. One of the most common mistakes is the use of active (acidic) fluxes for soldering. Remaining on the contact “patch”, they begin to corrode the connections, thereby opening the circuit.

Connection instability may be due to the use of a soldering iron that is too powerful (more than 60 W), which simply overheats the contacts. The area with copper “patch” peels off, and the connection is broken. This problem is very easy to identify. If you press the place of soldering with your finger, then there is light, if you release it, it disappears.

What to do if the LED strip flashes after switching on – change the tape module, install a new one instead of it by high-quality soldering.

Problems with connectors

Connectors are a way of connecting pieces of tape. It acts as a simpler alternative to soldering. Here, the flashing problem may be related to the oxidation of the connector contacts. If work has recently been carried out in the room that caused an increase in humidity (a screed was poured, the walls were whitewashed or painted), it is worth checking the connectors, as this can contribute to the oxidation of the contacts.

The oxidized contact heats up and burns out until it is completely destroyed. The light flickers at first and then stops altogether. This can happen if the contact pads are not in good contact with each other.

Moisture, on the other hand, can penetrate the connector if its tightness is broken if its caps are not completely closed. It is very important to close them until they click. This is one of the important conditions for the correct installation of connectors.

Causes of flashing LED strip in the off state

If the LED strip is also flashing in the off state, then most likely the cause is a backlit switch, which is often used in the lighting system. If a power supply is connected through them, then LED lighting devices, including light bulbs and ribbons, also glow because of them. For LED strips, contactless and touch switches are optimal.

There are two ways to remove the blinking on the LED strip in this situation: change the switches to ordinary ones or connect the unit in the shield directly through the machine.

Even if the LED strip flashes after turning off, but not immediately, but after 1-2 hours, then it is worth looking for a malfunction in the diodes.