Managing Flash Sales And Discounts

A Hard Lesson About Lightning Deals Three weeks ago, I ran a lightning deal for one of my products. Sales tripled from 40 per day to 120. Sounds great, right? It wasn’t. My net profit for the day was only 20% of a normal day’s profit. At first, I thought, “Sure, that’s the discount—25-30% off. Makes sense.” But something didn’t sit right. I wanted to know more. So I dug deeper. Turns out, the real problem wasn’t the discount. It was advertising. Here’s what happened: • The lower price made the product more appealing. • More clicks on my ads drove up my spend. • Click-through rates and conversions went up. But profit didn’t. Here’s the question I asked myself: If my product is already ranking high organically, do I need to spend more on ads during a deal? For this product, I rank #2-4 for the main keywords. People can already find it. So, I tried something different the next time. 1. I capped my ad spend at normal daily levels. 2. I shifted the budget. I spent less on top-ranking keywords and more on ones where I had weak organic visibility. What happened? This time, net profit jumped. It was 100% higher than a normal day’s profit, even during the deal. What I Learned: 1. Don’t overspend on ads during a lightning deal. The discount drives the sales. Let it. 2. Be strategic. Cut back on high-ranking keywords. Focus ad spend on the weak ones. It’s more efficient and boosts visibility where you need it. And helps with organic rank improvement. 3. Test everything. Every product is different. The numbers don’t lie. What about you? When you run lightning deals, do you increase ad spend or pull back?

Prime Day is around the corner. But your funding negotiations are far from over… 👇🔻 It's a common trap for #Amazon vendors: They think once deal ASINs and budgets are aligned, Vendor Managers won't return to the negotiation table. The problem is: Amazon will often ask for additional funding support at the last minute. This happens in two scenarios: 1- Your account falls below Net PPM targets 2- Your promo ASINs get price-matched before Prime Day Amazon defines its funding requirements based on the lowest price offered in the last 60 days. For example: - Previous lowest T60D price: $50 - Forecasted promo price: $35 (30% off) - Vendor funding: $15 If the product gets price matched to $48 before Prime Day, Vendor Managers will request additional funding from the brand: - New T60D price: $48 - New promo price: $33.60 (30% off) - New funding request: $16.40 In the above example, Amazon will seek to offset the price matching that has occurred through an additional funding request to run the deal at a 30% discount. So here's what to keep in mind: 1- Ask Amazon to self-fund deals on Net PPM accretive items 2- Don't offer more funding if Amazon has already bought the inventory 3- Define your margin floor and be ready to pull products from the deal 4- Suggest including overstock ASINs in the deal 5- Shift budgets away from high-margin ASINs Remember: Vendor Managers are also under pressure to hit their Prime Day targets. So make sure you stand your ground during last-minute negotiations. --- Have you received additional funding requests from Amazon? Share your experience in the comments! #amazonvendor #amazonstrategy

Lightning deals won't save your products unless you do these things first... Lightning deals alone aren't enough to drive meaningful sales on Amazon. Here's what most sellers get wrong: A lot of sellers see Lightning Deal eligibility pop up in their account and jump on it with no strategic thinking. But running a Lightning Deal without the right foundation is like throwing a party nobody knows about. For Lightning Deals to actually work, you need: 1. Existing traffic or the ability to drive it There are thousands of deals competing for attention on Amazon's deal pages. Without either strong organic rankings or increased ad spend during your deal window, your discounted product will go unnoticed. 2. A clear reason for running the deal Are you trying to improve ranking? Get more reviews? Hook customers on a consumable product? Break into a new category? Your "why" should determine your discount depth and follow-up strategy. 3. The right discount percentage Amazon's minimum discount might not be enough, especially for products with fewer reviews or less differentiation. While established products with 5,000+ reviews might succeed with a 15% discount, newer products might need 25-30% off to overcome the lack of social proof. 4. A solid listing foundation If your conversion rate is already poor, a Lightning Deal won't fix underlying issues like low-quality images, weak bullet points, or negative reviews. It will just accelerate traffic to a broken listing. Some successful brands run weekly Lightning Deals as part of their strategy to maintain rankings and create buying urgency. But they've already addressed the fundamentals above. Before you run your next Lightning Deal, make sure you're driving enough traffic to the listing and have addressed any conversion issues. Otherwise, you're just discounting your product for the few people who happen to stumble across it.

Types of Schemes in GT FMCG In the GT world, schemes are like chutney with samosa, they make the whole thing click. Here are the top ones: 1. Cash Discount • Definition: A flat percentage discount on the invoice value. • Example: 2% off on billing of Rs. 10,000. • Purpose: Push billing during lean seasons. 2. Quantity-Based Scheme (Slab/BOGO) • Definition: Buy X, Get Y Free or a tiered slab-based discount. • Example: Buy 10 boxes, get 1 free. • Purpose: Push higher offtake and stock loading. 3. Product Bundling • Definition: Clubbing a high-margin item with a low-margin one. • Example: Buy 5 face creams, get 2 soaps free. • Purpose: Rotation of slow movers or new launches. 4. Display Scheme • Definition: Rewarding retailers for shelf space or branding. • Example: Rs. 300 cashback if product is kept front-facing for 15 days. • Purpose: Visibility = Sales. 5. Target-Based Scheme (TBT) • Definition: If the retailer hits a monthly/quarterly target, he gets a rebate or reward. • Example: Achieve Rs. 50,000 billing in a month, get Rs. 2,000 cashback. • Purpose: Sustained growth and loyalty. 6. Retailer Engagement Scheme • Definition: Lucky draw, quiz, or gamification for retailers. • Example: Scan and win coupons with each case purchased. • Purpose: Increase interest and excitement around the brand. ⸻ Scope and Impact of Schemes A well-structured scheme can: • Increase immediate sales (billing push) • Improve brand visibility • Liquidate ageing stocks • Push new product trials • Drive loyalty among retailers • Block competition from the shelf However, over-scheming can backfire: • Eat into margins • Encourage forward loading • Train the retailer to wait for a scheme (spoiling habit) ⸻ Case Study: “The Great Summer Push” – Biscomax Biscuits Context Biscomax, a fast-moving biscuit brand, saw declining summer sales in North India. April–June 2024 sales had dipped 15% YoY. Action Introduced a 3-tier slab scheme in May: Slab Billing Value Extra Discount Slab A Rs. 5,000 3% Slab B Rs. 10,000 5% Slab C Rs. 15,000+ 8% Also, a retail display scheme: Rs. 500 reward for placing a dangler + shelf branding + sharing photo proof. Results in Numbers Distributor Billing Jump: April: Rs. 28 Lakhs May: Rs. 41 Lakhs (46% jump) Retailer Participation: 1,200 outlets qualified for display reward 75% uptick in visibility score in retail audit ROI of Scheme: Total scheme cost: Rs. 2.8 Lakhs Incremental revenue generated: Rs. 13 Lakhs ROI: 4.6x Long-term Impact: Retailers reordered without waiting for next scheme Brand scored higher TOMA (top of mind awareness) in Nielsen dipstick ⸻ Punchy Analogy to Remember “A good FMCG scheme is like a great Bollywood masala movie – You need action (sales push), drama (retailer excitement), and a happy ending (ROI)!”

Amazon Sellers often overlook the power of strategic pricing. Your product's price isn't just a number—it's a key driver of sales velocity and Amazon's algorithmic favor. Let's dive into why a temporary price drop might be your secret weapon. 👉 Higher prices without sales = Amazon indifference 👉 Strategic sales events boost long-term performance 👉 Post-sale velocity often exceeds pre-sale levels 👉 Even modest price adjustments can trigger algorithmic rewards I recently advised a brand facing this exact dilemma. Their product, priced at $41.99, was struggling against $30 competitors. The solution? A bold move: a 48-hour Prime Day sale at $24.99. This isn't just about short-term gains. It's about kickstarting a virtuous cycle. Imagine blowing through 50-100 units in two days, then seeing your daily sales jump from 10 to 15 or 20 units afterward. That's the power of a well-executed price strategy. But here's the kicker: this approach isn't for everyone. It works best when you've got some traction and need a temporary jolt. Think of it as a calculated risk to break through a plateau. And if you're worried about profit margins, consider this: a strategic price drop can be far more cost-effective than throwing money at PPC campaigns. Amazon's algorithm loves price changes, often rewarding them with improved organic visibility. So, Amazon Sellers, are you ready to shake things up? A bold pricing move might just be the catalyst your product needs to dominate your niche.

The most profitable Amazon strategy most brands ignore: The Deal Calendar. Let me explain why this is pure leverage: Premium-priced DTC brands struggle on Amazon because it's price-sensitive. If you're selling a $100 wallet when the category average is $20, you're fighting an uphill battle. EXCEPT during deals. When premium products go on sale, conversion rates skyrocket. The math is simple: - Normal day: 8% conversion rate - During a deal: 22% conversion rate That's 2.75x more sales with the SAME traffic Most brands run deals randomly or just during Prime Day and Black Friday. The pros create a strategic Deal Calendar: - Lightning Deals (run weekly) - Best Deals (run monthly) - Prime Day/Black Friday/Cyber Monday - Brand-specific promotions When we implemented this for Hexclad, the results were staggering: - Prime Day: $6.23M in two days - Black Friday: $3.6M in one day - Cyber Monday: $2.1M in one day But more importantly, their NON-DEAL days improved too. Why? Because deals boost organic ranking, which carries over. Do you have a Deal Calendar for your Amazon business?

Don’t blow all your profit on ads during Prime Day. Instead, you should have a lead-in and a lead-out ad strategy And let your deals do the work on Prime Day What that means is that you strategically drive more and more in-market traffic to your pages that you’re running deals on in advance of Prime Day Then on Prime Day you pull back on top-of-funnel and middle-of-funnel spend and focus more on retargeting to convert Amazon has clearly given preference in terms of visibility to brands running deals during tentpole events like Prime Day Trying to force traffic through ads on Prime Day isn’t the answer when CPCs are way higher too Ultimately, you need to be profitable You shouldn’t give all your margin away between deals and ads After Prime Day, you should ramp spend back up with a focus on targeting people who viewed competitor pages but didn’t convert The more you can pay attention to what discounts your competitors are offering during Prime Day, the better audiences you can build after Prime Day for retargeting Lots of consumers don’t find the discount they are looking for on the products they want during Prime Day and device to get something else Consumers also buy products on Prime Day and return them, so they need a substitute Sometimes we overthink Prime Day a bit However, don’t overspend on Prime Day; it isn’t the path to success Don’t hesitate to reach out if you’re not certain about your strategy for Prime Day PS when looking at profitability for Prime Day, I’d suggest looking at the week before Prime Day, the event itself, and at least 5 days after as “Prime Day” to get the full picture We can filter easily by date range with our P&L for 1P and 3P on iDerive I get it’s not easy otherwise #amazonads #amazonadvertising #amazonvendor

Next time you run a sale, consider doing a mystery discount sale. We ran an A/B test on this for a client and saw more email engagement + a 42% increase in sales. It uses curiosity to force people to find product and go all the way to checkout just the see what the offer may be. Often times the customer will get there and just decide to pull the trigger. How do you run a mystery discount? Simply create a coupon code and set it to whatever discount you want. % OFF or $ OFF or free shipping are all fine. Then give the discount code in your email and prompt people to use it at checkout to reveal the offer. Here's an example attached.

Most sellers still treat Lightning Deals as a one-off promo tool. At PAS, we’ve taken a different approach — we use them as part of our Fixed ACoS Acquisition Strategy. Why? Because unlike PPC, where your cost-per-acquisition swings day to day, a Lightning Deal gives you controlled visibility, predictable spend, and scalable growth. When set up right, it’s not just about the deal: 🚀 You surge to the Today’s Deals page (massive exposure) ⚡ You convert fast with urgency and volume 📈 You get a post-deal ranking boost that lasts beyond the timer We’ve used Lightning Deals to launch new variations, clear aging inventory profitably, and scale visibility without inflating ad spend. I broke it all down — including the setup process and what we’ve learned managing this for brands across multiple categories. Curious: how are you using Lightning Deals right now? Part of a bigger growth system? Or still a last-minute promo tool? 👇 Would love to hear your take. #AmazonSellers #AmazonSellers #FixedACoS #PASAgency #EcommerceGrowth

A seller on Amazon came to us frustrated. Despite having a great product, he was struggling to gain traction. He had tried running promotions and discounts before, but his sales numbers didn’t reflect the effort. He felt like he was giving away too much, just to see temporary boosts in numbers, followed by a steady decline. After diving into his strategy, we realized the issue wasn’t the promotions themselves—it was how they were being used. He was running discounts and flash sales without a larger plan, hoping that slashing prices would magically make his product stand out. But while discounts can get a quick spike in sales, without the right approach, they can just lead to a race to the bottom. We worked with him to refine his strategy. The first step? We built a clear plan to pair his discounts with targeted advertising. We focused on increasing visibility through strategic, seasonal promotions that would capitalize on heightened shopping activity. By using tools like lightning deals and coupons, we created urgency, making his product stand out even in a crowded market. It wasn’t an overnight transformation, but over time, his product gained a better organic ranking, thanks to the increased conversions. Sales picked up—and kept picking up long after the promotion ended. He learned that discounts and promotions aren’t just about slashing prices. They’re a tool, but only when used in a well-planned, strategic way. And that’s how he was able to turn a simple promotion into a game-changing strategy for long-term growth. #amazonppc