Today, I will share with you some tips on Amazon’s flash sales, hoping to help sellers distinguish the categories and participation conditions of flash sales and maximize the effects of flash sales.
First, clarify the categories of flash sales activities
1. Deals of the day
Deals of the day are abbreviated as "DOTO", which means special deals of the day. This is a flash sale that Amazon officially invites sellers to participate in. There are 3 ad slots per day, and the flash sale lasts for 24 hours. Generally speaking, sellers can communicate with the investment manager to make a declaration.
2. Lightning Deal
Lightning Deal is abbreviated as "LD", which means Lightning Deal. There will be more sellers participating in this flash sale, and it is also a seller that participates more frequently. The duration of flash sales varies on different sites, 4 hours for the US site and 6 hours for the European site. Sellers can communicate with the investment manager to make an application, or they can apply to create an event themselves.
3. Best Deal (Weekly Flash Sale)
Best Deal is abbreviated as "BD", which means weekly flash sale. This flash sale lasts the longest period, usually 14 days. “Saving & Sales” is displayed on the flash sale interface, and sellers can only communicate with the investment manager to declare.
Second, understand the requirements of flash sales
DOTO activities have high requirements for sellers. Usually, sellers need to meet the following conditions to apply:
The product must be discounted by more than 20%
The product is the lowest price in 52 weeks
The product price is 20% of the lowest price in the past 30 days
The number of reviews is more than 20
Review score 4 stars or above
The listing is with video and A+ page
If it is a variant product, more than 75% of the sub-ASINs under the parent ASIN must be declared
The conditions that need to be met for LD declaration are as follows:
The product price is at least 20% off the lowest selling price in the past 30 days
The flash sale price of the product is not less than 10 USD/GBP/EUR
The review score is at least 3.0 stars (Japanese site product rating 3.5 stars and above)
Variants: Flash sales should include as many product variations as possible (such as size, color, style, etc.) to ensure that the product style is rich and complete.
Listings must comply with Amazon’s guidelines for content and images.
Must be a product shipped by FBA
The conditions that need to be met for BD declaration are as follows:
The review score is at least 3 stars
Now 15% off or less on cart price
Must be a product shipped by FBA
Finally, learn the secrets of flash sales
Now that you know the categories and conditions for participating in Amazon’s flash sales, let’s talk about some operational tips you need to pay attention to before and after the flash sales.
1. Optimize your listing before applying for a flash sale
The quality of listing optimization is directly related to the consumer's order rate. It is recommended that sellers do the following optimizations before the flash sale:
(1) Product title;
(2) Product description;
(3) Main and auxiliary product images;
(4) Obtain high ratings and high-quality reviews;
(5) For sellers with a budget, it is best to design A+ pages to more comprehensively display product features;
(6) It is best if the listing can include a product video. If it cannot be uploaded, it can be ignored.
2. Before declaring a flash sale, adjust the product price appropriately
Increase the discount between the selling price and the list price. It is recommended to set the discount to 73%. According to statistics in the United States, 71% to 73% discounts are discounts that buyers are more willing to accept. Discounts that are too large seem too fake, and discounts that are too small are not attractive enough.
One thing to note here is that you must not change the price before the flash sale begins, and you must make a pricing strategy before declaring the event.
For example: set prices based on competitors’ flash sales prices and check the flash sales performance of their products.
You can check the performance of your competitors’ flash sales in two ways:
(1) Search your product keywords in the Amazon search box and check the products marked with Limited Time Deals in the search results;
(2) Go to the Amazon Deals page and check whether there are similar products participating in the flash sale and what their prices are.
3. Before declaring a flash sale, pay attention to the quantity you declare
Based on the previous experience of some sellers in declaring and participating in flash sales, the number of declarations should be less rather than more. Generally, it only needs to be slightly more than the minimum recommendation to ensure that the flash sale can be completed on time. Because the performance evaluation of the flash sale department includes the flash sale completion rate. If you complete every flash sale very well, you will get more flash sales frequency.
It should be noted that: inventory can be added in real time during flash sales, and the flash sale quantity can be slowly increased as the flash sale progresses, but be sure not to reduce it, otherwise the flash sale will be cancelled.
4. After successfully applying for the flash sale, choose the time for the flash sale
Normally, the duration and requirements of each category of flash sales are different. Sellers can set it up according to the type of flash sale activity they declare.
5. Increase your advertising budget when participating in flash sales
Because flash sales and advertising can mutually promote sales growth, when setting up advertising bids, you can select Bid+ and increase the advertising budget. Since the product prices are very attractive, the conversion rate of the listing (advertising conversion rate) will be very high at this time. At the same time, increased exposure from advertising can also drive conversions from flash sales.
If the conversion happens, the product’s conversion rate and click-through rate will also increase. In addition, the advertising space on the product page allows you to see other people’s products participating in flash sales, which can also greatly increase the click-through rate.
6. After the flash sale ends, do a good job of data analysis and summary
During the flash sale, be sure to record data such as traffic and orders so that you can analyze and summarize the results after the flash sale ends and prepare improvement strategies for the next flash sale.
Today I will share some tips on how to run Amazon’s flash sales. If you have experience participating in flash sales, you are welcome to leave a message to share and discuss your secrets to success.