A flash sale is a promotion or discount offered for a limited time. Companies use them to create marketing buzz, manage inventory, and collect customer data.
Business Objectives
There are many potential goals when conducting a flash sale. Each marketing campaign can meet several at the same time. Examples include:
Create brand loyalty
Build contact lists
Attract new market segments
Reengage with inactive clients
Liquidate dead stock
Promote new products and services
Introduce customers to other delivery channels
Grow sales volumes
Capabilities
The capabilities needed for a flash sale depend on the goals. The ones that work the best get extended, and those that don't get dropped. The value for the business comes from the ability to design and tweak many alternate structures. Capabilities helping flash sales are:
Low cost to enter and exit sales events.
Reprice products online, in the store, and on the shelf automatically.
Trigger a sale on short notice in response to an immediate need, such as a weather event.
Stop promotions quickly, such as when running out of inventory.
Collect and analyze data to plan future events.
Technologies
There is a considerable amount of technology available to promote flash sales. The ones that work in a given industry, business, and campaign vary significantly. IT infrastructure that facilitates the overall marketing effort includes:
Collect granular data from the website, store, search engines, and advertising platforms.
Segregate customers into smaller groups based on sales and marketing analytics.
Design campaigns that appeal to the unique interests of each group.
Issue new loyalty accounts on the spot.
Send text messages instead of emails because they get higher response rates.
Block bots from making online purchases by capping the number of orders from an IP address, shipping address, and card number.
