One of the main reasons why consumers buy on Amazon is because of the lower prices they found on it. Buyers love making good deals and, whenever they see one, they quickly forget about their regular brands or products. Below we will go through the three types of promotions sellers can benefit from on Amazon to help you boost sales.
1. Amazon Lightning Deals.
Amazon Lightning Deals are a type of promotional offer that applies to a limited quantity and for a limited period of time. The Lightning Deals can be found throughout the Amazon.com website, in the dedicated Today’s Amazon Deals page and in the Prime Day page. Given the limited duration of these promotions, the products on offer constantly change and consumers regularly come back to check on the latest deals. This favors fast purchase decisions because of the fear of missing out.
Lightning deals are a good option for sellers if they are looking to reduce inventory or increase sales. In fact, not only regular consumers will buy your discounted products, but also those that were unfamiliar with your brand and discovered you in the deals page.
Although you must have a Professional Selling Plan in order for your products to be eligible for Lightning Deals, Amazon is often fine-tuning the requirements for eligibility. To find out what products are eligible, visit your Seller account in which you will find the eligible products. In the account you will also find recommendations provided by Amazon on which products you could apply Lightning Deals. Despite the ever changing requirements, there are a few ones that have been persistent through time:
- Fulfillment method: in order for your products to be eligible for Lightning Deals, you must be enrolled to the FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) or Seller Fulfilled Prime programs as your products have to be Prime eligible.
- Product ratings and reviews: given the importance that Amazon gives to customer satisfaction, it goes without saying that high ratings and reviews are a permanent requisite for a product to be eligible for Lightning Deals. Your ratings should never go under 3 stars and, as a habit, invest in gathering over time high ratings and good reviews by providing a great customer experience.
- Category: some categories are considered inappropriate and are typically not eligible for Lightning Deals. Before looking to do this type of promotion, check the current Amazon requirements to see if there is a limitation with the products you sell.
As for any service, to be eligible for the Lightning Deals you must pay a fee of 150$. Keep this in mind when it comes to evaluating different types of promotions to determine the most profitable one for your business on Amazon. This fee can also variate especially during seasonal peaks. In fact, the cost will be higher during these times because of the higher traffic visiting the Amazon website and, as a consequence, the higher probability of sales.
2. Amazon Promotions.
Amazon Promotions include various types of promotions that can help introduce a new product to the Amazon audience, increase awareness of a product that is not performing as you expected or simply boost furthermore sales of products that are already doing well.
The main types of promotions:
- Percentage or Dollar off: as the name suggests, these are simply price discounts that can be redeemed with dedicated codes. These codes can be 1) generic: anyone can use it, 2) individual: a different code is generated for every buyer, and 3) no code: the discount is directly applied when the eligible product is added to the cart.
- Free Shipping: free shipping promotion is available whenever a buyer purchases a specific number of items or spends a given amount specified by the seller. Not all shippings may be eligible for the promotion so the seller will have to determine which ones in advance.
3. Amazon Promo Codes.
Amazon Promo Codes are like the typical coupons one can find on other sales channels so consumers are familiar with how they work. They can last for up to 30 days and they can be shared on social media or with targeted customers.
Amazon Promo Codes can be redeemed in two ways:
- Via a dedicated link that the buyer has to click on in order to get the discount. In this case the discount is directly added to the cart. This promotion is rather generic and typically applies to a wide variety of products with the condition that the coupon requirements are met (e.g. spend at least $30).
- Adding the promoted products to the cart and entering the coupon codes in the dedicated section during checkout. Keep in mind that codes cannot be saved for later so, once a coupon is clipped, the buyer has to use it right away. If it is not used immediately, the coupon will remain valid until its expiration date but the buyer will have to clip it again in order to use it. This type of promotion is usually applied to specific products.
The Amazon fee for this type of promotion is $0.60 per redeemed coupon and it is limited to one coupon per buyer.
As you can see, Amazon provides sellers with a variety of promotion techniques to help them boost sales and build a happy customer base. Based on your objectives you may want to opt for one type or the other. Have questions on how to optimize your promotional strategy? Contact us today! At Gradient we monitor promotion behaviors and trends on a continuous basis in order to determine the right selling strategies for your business on Amazon.
