Retail advertising is changing, and much of the retail traffic that occurs is online. Transactions are being performed more and more online, which opens the door to a new kind of advertising. Online retail organizations the world over already offer their stock online, and many have online-only deals. The retail industry, however, has something to learn about marketing from a very unlikely place. The unlikely place in question is the gaming industry, specifically Steam, a popular digital game store. With marketing automation, this marketing strategy is simple.
One of the things that Steam does frequently is hold a large seasonal or holiday event, and within that event they have flash sales that last perhaps twelve hours at a time. These sales generate a more urgent need, by offering the same products at a greatly reduced price for a short time. What's the logic here? Well, by offering the lower pricing, they have dominated the PC gaming market for some time, attracting more customers than their digital gaming platform competitors. Here's how it could be applied to the retail industry, and how you can use marketing automation to accomplish it.
1. Spread the word in newsletters
When you're approaching a big sale like that, you can't just hope people check in and see the sale. You need to let people know that you're implementing a flash sale program, and they need to sign up to receive updates. Otherwise, you'll be spamming your mailing list, and could be open to legal action for it. Sending to people who don't want to receive the messages also alienates customers. Marketing automation software keeps track of your subscribed and unsubscribed contacts and tracks their behavior and purchases. It also automatically sends out personalized email newsletters based on what type of games each customer likes, where they are located and much more.
2. Send customers advertisements on their preferred medium
Some people will want emails, others SMS messages, some voicemails and others social media updates. Automatically update your social media pages each day with marketing automation, and set up a campaign that notifies customers when the sale begins. Post it across all your social media pages. Spread the word and encourage people to check it out before it's over. The urgency and excitement of the limited time deal will bring in a lot of one time purchasers that could turn into new customers. It will also increase business from your loyal customers.
3. Hold seasonal sales
Hold these in tandem with seasonal events, that way you can include a time frame for daily flash sales during a big weekly sale in the seasonal sale newsletter, encouraging your online shoppers to participate in both. The results will boost sales and increase the number of people who shop with you, as they will be hopeful for more big sales as time goes on. The compounding of seasonal sales and flash sales means you are able to offer unique products at amazing prices, and it increases the online buzz. In addition, you can run smaller flash sales using in-store credit as a bonus to your loyalty program.
You can see how marketing automation is useful in breaking new ground in the retail world, and finding new ways to engage and keep customers coming back. Marketing automation software makes your sales more efficient and effective. If you want more tips, check out the retail page and also our marketing automation page to see what else you can use to buff your advertising up. Remember, SimplyCast wants to be the best by making you the best. We offer a lot of content already, but contact us with questions, suggestions or even feature requests.
Now you know how to automate flash sales, your stock is bound to sell out fast! Luckily, SimplyCast offers an automated inventory management system!
