Managing Flash Sales And Discounts

The 'renewed' EU rules no longer allow you to implement discount claims on the spot blindly. Fines can go up to €160.000,- These rules state that when running a discount promotion and mentioning the "original" price, you must use the lowest selling price offered in the 30 days prior to the price reduction. Example: Product X costs €60 on Oktober 15. On November 3, the price drops to €50. If you want to run a "From/Now" promotion on November 29 (Blackfriday), You cannot use the higher price from Oktober 15 as the "from" price because it was more than 30 days ago. You must use the price from November 30. Oktober 15 -> €60 November 3 -> €50 November 29 -> From €50, now €35 As a seller, you are not required to specify how long the reference price was in effect. You only need to ensure that it was the lowest price in the past 30 days. Google Shopping Strategy: In addition, you 𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗗 to make sure you are eligible for the 'Sale badge' within Google Shopping to maximize your exposure, CTR and sales. What are the requirements to become eligible for the Shopping Sale badge? - Base price: Must be consistently displayed for at least 30 days within the past 200 days. - Sale price comparison: Must be lower than the base price. - Discount range: Between 5% and 90% off the base price. - Sale price: Cannot be displayed for more than 30 days. - Base price validity: Must be a valid, non-zero value. You should include the sale_price_effective_date to ensure your Google Shopping listings display sale prices accurately and end the campaign at the right time. So this means that you need to think about your discounting strategy at least 30 days ahead of your sale period to take full advantage of Google's features. How do you check if your products are eligible for the sale badge? - Go to your Merchant center - Go to your product overview - Filter on 'price drop' or 'sale badge' ---------------- I am Ruben Runneboom co-owner at Taskforce Agency → In the upcoming weeks, I will share our best PPC practices that we have successfully applied over the past decade with the clients we have had the pleasure to work with. Such as: - How do you differentiate from your competitors - Targeting strategies - Bidding strategies - Budget strategies - Campaign setups - Pricing strategies - Promotionfeeds - Ad customizers Hit the 🔔 to not miss out. Cheers!

Personalisation is talked a lot about in commerce, yet I am seeing very few SMB's walk the talk. Personalisation with purpose is key to investing time and resources which are finite in any SMB retailer and I suspect why it is rarely implemented. Segmeting your customers into four key groups is a crucial first step: Loyal customers - repeat, full price shoppers Discount customers - repeat, discount shoppers First time customers - single purchase shoppers At risk customers - haven't purchased in 6 months (adjust time frame to your average repurchase rate time period) Now build a strategy accordingly: Loyal customers - exclusive first to know when new product drops (don't scream sale to them) Discount customers - first to know when you go on sale First time customers - serve them the products second time customers purchase At risk customers - send them a really hot offer to see if you can entice them back, maybe even ask them why they haven't shopped again with you? How does a retailer "one up this", look at patterns in what your customer groups buy. A great example of this is a strategy we rolled out with a footwear brand which I shared with the Klaviyo team in Sydney this week... Before going on sale, segment your slow moving or end of season products into sizes. Build custom landing pages (this can be down using search filters as well) showing the styles and products in that customer groups size. You may just be blown away too that you end up selling through all your slow moving or end of season products at full price. A simple strategy targeting niche customer size groups with styles in their size will not just drive revenue and profit, but loyalty too. These customers likely struggle to find their size more often than not! How often have you gone to a store and found what you wanted was not available in your size... 🙄 What's your top tip for tackling personalisation?

Discounts are a hammer that makes every problem in the business look like a nail. Businesses look at challenges like: - Excess inventory - Mediocre products - Low CLTV - Poor retention …and slap on the discount duct tape. The end result? Weak margin. A cheapened brand. And consumers who are conditioned to only buy from you if they get a hefty discount. We help retailers shift from one-size-fits-all discounts to targeted, efficient incentives. The exact playbook varies a lot by brand, but the approach needs to be both Technological (granular data in promo rules, and a wide range of incentive types) and Organizational (measuring marketers on margin & profit, and setting guardrails for offers). Some sample tactics include… 1️⃣ Shift to buy-more-save-more and bundle offers 2️⃣ Use 'challenges' for customers to work towards specific incentives 3️⃣ Require data capture (form, survey, preference center) to get a deal 4️⃣ Scope offers to specific SKU parameters, not entire categories 5️⃣ Don't show discounts too early or to high-propensity customers 6️⃣ Ensure marketers can use all customer, cart, and SKU data in offer rules 7️⃣ Make more offers 'final' (no returns on attractive deals) 8️⃣ Communicate non-discount value on item level (bonus points, gift with purchase) 9️⃣ Shift value prop to experiences & exclusivity with known users 🔟 Optimize promotions & loyalty program to get to break-even (e.g. 5th purchase, not 1st) But the goal is almost always to discount LESS, and to ensure that the remaining discounts are extremely efficient & targeted. Here are a few examples of what this discount discipline has meant for Talon.One customers: → Ecommerce company ($300m revenue) that decreased discount spend by 20% by switching to personalized coupon wallet → Clothing retailer ($1 Bn revenue) that increased promotions margin by 7.7% with shift to ‘buy more, save more’ playbook → Grocery delivery ($100m revenue) that decreased acquisition spend by 50% while ‘exiting’ customers who only buy with a hefty deal Is your business discounting itself to death? Send me a DM; happy to brainstorm ways to break the cycle.

More traffic means nothing if you can’t turn visitors into customers. We helped an eCommerce client grow revenue by 72% and 3X’d their organic traffic along the way. Turns out, when you give users a better experience and convert them, Google will naturally send you more free traffic. Here’s exactly how we did it, and how you can too. 👇 1️⃣ Your blog should actively drive sales, not just rank. Find your top-selling products in Google Analytics. Go to Reports → Monetization → Ecommerce purchases. Sort by revenue or units sold. These are your “money” pages. Next, add contextual internal links from relevant blog posts. Link naturally within sentences using descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text. 2️⃣ Add product widgets at strategic points in your content: Place widgets in 3 key areas: - Within articles when discussing related items - Sidebar for consistent visibility - Bottom of posts for subtle promotion Try these proven widget types: - Popular/bestselling products  - Recently viewed items  - New arrivals  - Special offers/discounts  - "People also buy" recommendations Make sure your widgets have:  - Clear, clickable images  - Direct "Add to Cart" buttons when possible  - Quick view functionality 3️⃣ Keep visitors engaged with related posts sections at the end of each article. Not all your visitors will buy right away. Extract SEO value from them using related posts. WordPress users can try Contextual Related Posts plugin, while Shopify stores can use Related Blog Posts Pro. Longer site visits mean more product discovery opportunities. 4️⃣ Never use generic product descriptions. Create unique descriptions at scale with ChatGPT’s (free) Ecommerce SEO Product Description Writer. Feed in your product name, features, and what makes it different. Then enhance the output with customer-focused benefits, clear features, and FAQs. 5️⃣ Structure descriptions into scannable sections: - Brief overview for busy shoppers - Detailed info for researchers - Feature lists with practical benefits - Clean technical specs - How-to sections for complex products The key here is to give Google exactly what it wants - unique content that satisfies user intent AND converts. The result of these tweaks? • 204% increase in organic traffic (9,107 → 27,699 monthly sessions) • 72% increase in monthly revenue • 1.75x more keywords in top 10 positions (2K → 3.5K)

Inflation often forces businesses into a dilemma—raise prices and risk losing customers, or keep prices stable and shrink margins. But what if data could help strike the perfect balance? 🚀 Challenge: Flipkart, one of India’s largest e-commerce platforms, noticed fluctuating customer retention rates and declining repeat purchases, especially during inflationary periods. Traditional deep-discount campaigns led to short-term sales spikes but failed to build long-term customer loyalty. 🔎 Solution: Data-Driven Discounting Strategy Flipkart’s analytics team uncovered a key insight: Small, frequent discounts (e.g., 5-10% on repeat purchases) led to higher engagement. Personalized offers based on purchase history encouraged repeat buys. A/B testing revealed that customers preferred consistency over occasional deep discounts. 💡 Implementation: Using AI-driven dynamic pricing, Flipkart rolled out: ✅ Tiered discounts for loyal customers. ✅ AI-powered coupon recommendations. ✅ Targeted email campaigns promoting small, time-sensitive discounts. 📈 Results: After three months of testing, Flipkart saw: ✔️ 17% increase in repeat purchases ✔️ 12% uplift in customer retention ✔️ Higher profit margins vs. deep discounting 🎯 Key Takeaway: In an inflationary environment, data-driven pricing isn't just about maximizing revenue—it’s about customer psychology. Businesses that personalize their offers and optimize discounts intelligently can boost retention while protecting margins. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔? #datadrivendecisionmaking #DataAnalytics #DiscountStrategy #BusinessStrategies

Influencer Mgr: If we don't increase their discount codes, our influencers will leave. New CMO: That's the exact conversation happening in our customers' heads too. Influencer Mgr: What do you mean? CMO: They're both saying: "No bigger discount, no vibe." Influencer Mgr: But discount codes drive sales! CMO: What's the 12-month margin on discount-acquired customers? Influencer Mgr: I... don't know that number. CMO: How about contribution dollars from branded search traffic? Influencer Mgr: We don't track that. CMO: We do now. Main character energy, it is not. Influencer Mgr: We track revenue growth. That's what matters. CMO: What's the easiest way to grow revenue? Influencer Mgr: I'm not sure... CMO: Discounts. The marketing equivalent of fast food. Influencer Mgr: Previous CMO increased codes from 10% to 25%. CMO: And our margins dropped 15 points. Big yikes energy. Influencer Mgr: But we're still growing revenue! CMO: With 30% fixed costs, we're in flop era. Influencer Mgr: So what's the real problem? CMO: We're trapped in a discount doom loop. Influencer Mgr: What's the alternative? CMO: Build a brand people want without the discount crutch. Influencer Mgr: Sounds like core memories can't be bought. CMO: Exactly. We call it the Discount Detox. Influencer Mgr: How long will this take? CMO: It's giving evolution, not revolution. Think months, not years. Influencer Mgr: So we'll still use some discounts? CMO: The withdrawal symptoms won't kill us. The addiction will. Influencer Mgr: What's the success metric? CMO: Branded search, direct, and organic social growing faster than ad revenue. Influencer Mgr: This still feels risky. CMO: The riskiest move is staying on this hamster wheel of doom. Influencer Mgr: Will this actually work? CMO: Every iconic brand broke this same cycle. It's just math. Influencer Mgr: This is terrifying. CMO: That's how you know it's worth doing. Influencer Mgr: If this works... CMO: We'll be living rent-free in customers' heads instead of paying for every visit.

BREAKING: Google Automated Discounts declared ILLEGAL in Norway ↓ If you're running Google Shopping campaigns in Norway, this affects you directly. The Norwegian Consumer Authority just ruled that Google Automated Discounts (GAD) violates Norwegian pricing laws. Here's why this matters for eCommerce brands: → GAD shows different prices to different customers → It allegedly violates Norwegian law requiring accurate "before" prices (last 30 days lowest price) The Consumer Authority director stated plainly: "Businesses using this tool are not following pricing regulations and risk financial penalties." This is a clear legal decision. The implications are significant: → Immediate compliance required → Precedent that could influence similar rulings → Risk of sanctions for non-compliant businesses This highlights a critical reality about eCommerce: Country's regulations, culture and specifics do impact your marketing strategy. If you focus on a specific geographic area, make sure to work with someone who is knowledgeable about it. (and yes, I do speak Norwegian, I lived in Oslo for 7 years and my clients are mostly Norwegians)

If your mobile PDP isn’t selling above the fold,  it’s sabotaging your performance. Period. Most brands don’t set theirs up that way. They opt to go the traditional route. Standard product images on white or on model,  if you’re real lucky a lifestyle image or two. Drop in some brand fluff here and there…  And 🤞 hope the user scrolls for more. But here’s the truth: 100% of your users will see what’s above the fold. So if your sales pitch isn’t there, you’re wasting prime real estate. Here’s what your mobile PDP should do above the fold: 1. Nail your promotional details (during BFCM) - Show the price bold and clear. - Communicate the discount (dollar or percentage make it feeeeel big) - Include urgency: “Sale ends in 17 hours!” 2. Use your product media to sell. Your gallery isn’t just for pretty pictures and brand fluff. Every image, video, and graphic is an opportunity to pitch the product: - Show it in action. - Use annotated graphics to highlight key benefits. - Address anxieties visually. This is a sales pitch whether you see that way or not. 3. Hit the motivators and anxieties. What’s the biggest reason someone will buy? What’s the biggest fear holding them back? Your copy needs to tackle both.  And you need to do it fast. You can’t wait to halfway down the page to address these things. → If you don’t know what motivates or worries your customers? Go get the data. It’s all there. Start with your reviews. Customers leave gold in there. - What did they love? - What nearly stopped them from buying? Still not enough? Post-purchase surveys are an easy next step  and in 2 weeks you’ll have really good data. Your mobile PDP isn’t just a branded page. It’s where the sale happens, but for many it doesn’t… Think about the 90%+ that don’t convert. Get your above the fold right, and you’re already miles ahead of most brands.

Imagine the frustration of watching your profits disappear through logistics missteps. 📦 Over the past three years, I've worked with more than 200 e-commerce businesses, and the same 5 operational mistakes keep surfacing, draining their bottom line. The patterns are striking, and the solutions are within reach. Here's what I consistently observe: → Shipping cost miscalculations by 30-40% Most operations rely on basic weight and distance averages. But seasonal fluctuations, dimensional pricing, and fuel adjustments create unexpected expenses. The fix? Build a 25% buffer into your calculations and negotiate flat-rate agreements with carriers whenever possible. → Packaging inefficiencies that drain resources I've witnessed companies hemorrhage $50K annually simply from oversized boxes. Every additional inch impacts your margins. Strategic packaging optimization and automated solutions for high-volume operations make a substantial difference. → International expansion without proper groundwork Customs complications, documentation mistakes, and duty calculation errors devastate customer satisfaction rapidly. Partner with experienced customs brokers and maintain real-time visibility on international shipments from the start. → Suboptimal inventory placement strategies Centralizing everything in one location while serving nationwide customers adds 2-3 days to delivery times. Strategic fulfillment center locations can reach 97% of customers within two days. → Lack of operational contingency planning Depending on a single carrier means one service interruption can halt your entire operation. Diversify your carrier relationships and maintain backup 3PL partnerships. Companies that streamline operations early position themselves for sustainable growth and enhanced customer satisfaction. 🚀 Which operational challenge is impacting your profitability most significantly right now? #EcommerceSolutions #LogisticsExcellence

Discounting can have a larger impact on your bottom line than you might expect. Here’s a real-world example from my work with a restaurant group that underscores this point: -Background- The restaurant group decided to lower their appetizer prices with the aim of boosting overall table spending and driving higher average check amounts. However, after three months, they were puzzled to see their average check decreasing and revenue dropping despite a rise in customer foot traffic. -Diagnosis- To get to the root cause, I conducted a detailed analysis of their sales mix across major menu categories. This helped to identify where the changes were actually occurring and pinpoint areas of concern. -Findings- 1. Sales Mix Analysis - The decline in the average check was primarily from the food category, despite an increase in the number of food items per guest. 2. Detailed Investigation - Upon a closer look, I discovered that the appetizer promotion was inadvertently cannibalizing entrée sales. - The average number of entrees per guest decreased from 0.97 to 0.85, while appetizers increased from 0.43 to 0.62. -Implications- Rather than driving higher revenue, the promotion led customers to opt for cheaper appetizers over more expensive entrees. This shift had a significant impact on the labor and COGS model, ultimately lowering the average check. -Conclusion- This scenario highlights the critical importance of post-promotion evaluation. While sales change is a key metric, it’s essential to assess other factors to determine a promotion’s true success. Understanding the broader impact on sales mix, customer behavior, and overall profitability helps ensure that well-intentioned strategies don’t backfire. #RestaurantManagement #Profitability #MarketingStrategy #SalesAnalysis #BusinessInsight