Creating attractive promotional offers can significantly increase the number of sales. Amazon offers various types of promotions for this purpose. From discounts and voucher codes to lightning deals, there are many ways to stimulate sales of your own products. In this article, you can find out what promotions there are, what advantages they bring and how you can easily create them.
First steps
To get an overview of the available promotions, log in to Amazon Seller Central, click on "Inventory" and select the option "Manage promotions". The subsequent creation of promotions always follows the same procedure. This includes the three steps Conditions, Schedule and Advanced options. How these steps are carried out depending on the promotion is explained below.
Free shipping
The first option for a promotion is to offer free shipping for the entire product catalog or selected products. The advantage of free shipping is obvious, because a product that is shipped free of charge is preferred over similar products with shipping costs. In this way, you can generate an advantage over the competition.
Thanks to Amazon Prime and the "free shipping" promotion, customers are less and less likely to come across products that incur shipping costs and are therefore less willing to pay them. Instead, they usually look for an alternative with free shipping and only fall back on the option with shipping costs if none is available.
To offer free shipping, click on "Create" in the overview of promotions under "Free shipping". The first step is to specify a few conditions. You can choose between a minimum amount or a minimum number of products to activate free shipping for customers.
Specific products or the entire catalog can then be selected for the promotion. Finally, the possible shipping options and any items to be excluded from the promotion must be specified.
In step 2, a period is created in which the promotion is to apply by specifying a start and end date. Optionally, an internal description such as "Free shipping for Mother's Day" can be added. The tracking ID of the promotion can also be edited.
In the third step, the promotion can be customized as required. If desired, redemption codes can be generated for individual use or for groups. In this case, it must be specified whether the code should only be redeemable once per customer and a redemption code can be accepted or edited. The notification that is shown to the customer about the promotion can then be customized. Alternatively, the Amazon specifications can be adopted. The displayed text, an ad text as well as the information and guidelines can be written by the customer. If desired, additional text can be written for the product detail page for qualified items.
Price reduction
In addition to free shipping, you can also create a discount. To do this, click on "Create" under "Discount" in the overview of promotions. Discounts have the advantage that they have a positive influence on the purchase decision of interested parties and can therefore generate more purchases than without the promotion. Here too, the three steps already mentioned must be carried out to create the promotion.
With regard to the conditions for the discount, there is a choice between a minimum amount, a minimum number of products or any number of products. A product selection can then be made. The buyer can either receive a fixed discount in euros or a deducted percentage for their purchase and the promotion can apply to purchased items or an additional item. In the latter case, the ASIN of the additional item must be entered. Finally, levels can be created to give a higher discount for more products purchased (e.g. 5% for 2 items purchased and 10% for 4 items purchased). Certain items can also be excluded from the promotion.
In step 2, the period in which the discount is to apply is specified by entering the start and end dates. In addition, an internal description can be added and the tracking ID can be adjusted.
In step 3, the same personalizations can be made that were already addressed when creating the free shipping, i.e. the generation of a redemption code or an individual notification that the customer sees about the promotion. Alternatively, the specifications from Amazon can be used.
Buy one and get a free product
The third option offers customers a free product when they purchase an item. To do this, click on "Create" under the relevant promotion in the overview of promotions. With the right selection, free products offer a great incentive to buy, as the customer receives another product as a gift for buying a product that they are already interested in. If this is even useful to the customer in some way, the product will almost certainly be preferred to competing products without corresponding promotions.
When creating such a promotion, you can choose between a minimum amount, a certain number of items purchased or any number of items purchased. You can then select the items to be affected by the promotion and the ASIN of the additional free product. Finally, the total number of items to which the promotion should apply and any items that should be excluded from the promotion are specified.
Step 2 again involves planning a time period in which the free item is to be offered. An internal description can optionally be added and the tracking ID can be adjusted if required.
In the third step, redemption codes can be generated for individual use or groups. The notification that the buyer receives about the offer can then be customized. More detailed information on this has already been described in the previous promotions.
Lightning offers
In contrast to the promotions already presented, the lightning deals are not automatically available, as you have to apply for them on Amazon. Not every product qualifies for this promotion, so the product must be rated with at least three stars and be Prime-qualified, among other things. The big advantage of lightning deals is the high visibility of the product. Amazon provides an extra category for the lightning offers, which receives numerous impressions. In this way, sales with lightning deals can increase significantly during the promotional period. One disadvantage of the lightning offers is that their use is now subject to a fee.
To create a lightning offer, select "Lightning offers" under "Advertising". Click on "Create" to see a list of products eligible for the promotion. Select the desired product and click on "Advanced editing" to create a flash offer. A main image, an internal description and product variants that are to be included must be entered for the creation.
The price and quantity must then be specified at variant level. Once the most important details have been entered, the desired week of publication can be selected. However, the lightning offer will only be valid for four hours within this week. The exact period within the specified week is determined by Amazon. Lightning offers can be canceled up to 25 hours before the planned release if, for example, the period selected by Amazon is very unfavorable.
Conclusion
The procedure for creating promotions is basically always the same: first, the conditions under which the promotion is to apply must be clarified, then the time period is determined, while adjustments can be made in the final step.
Only the creation of lightning offers differs slightly, as not every product qualifies and a request must first be made to Amazon. To get a feel for the effects of the promotions, you can try them out for selected products and short periods of time.
