What is a Flash Sale in Ecommerce? 6 of Our Favorite Examples

Ecommerce stores use flash sales to boost revenue, generate brand awareness, take advantage of consumers’ “fear of missing out,” and compel shoppers to make impulse purchases.

Sound manipulative? Shoppers enjoy the benefit of getting a product they want at an irresitible price. Countless ecommerce retailers use this promotional pricing strategy to generate sales with plenty of success.

In this post, you’ll learn everything you need to know about creating profitable flash sales and see examples from real ecommerce brands.

To illustrate the effect of a flash sale, let’s take a look at one example. Let’s say an artist who you only slightly like is playing in your city this weekend. Even though you only like that one song, you feel compelled to get dressed up and head over to the venue because your 10th favorite band is in town.

Or perhaps Trivia Night has rolled around once again, and even though you would rather stay home, you go out anyway because all your friends will be there and you don’t want to feel left out. What do these scenarios have in common? FOMO. The fear of missing out.

Flash sales capitalize on this psychological phenomenon to capture qualified leads and drive impulse buying decisions.

The best-known flash sale event of the year is Black Friday (and the following Cyber Monday). In 2021, Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales topped $14.04 Billion and $10.7 Billion respectively. For most businesses, this Mother-of-All-Flash-Sales is the highest grossing sales period of the entire year.

Flash sales aren’t just limited to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, though. An effectively implemented flash sale will massively boost sales, help clear out inventory, and bring additional customers to your site who may purchase non-sale items as well. To help you launch a successful flash sale, we’ve created a list of easy steps (and examples, too) to inspire your strategy.

How to Do a Flash Sale

1. Determine the goal of your sale.

A flash sale can accomplish many things besides just boosting sales and revenue. Do you want to clear out inventory to make room for next season’s products? Or perhaps you want to increase overall traffic to your site and generate hype over a new item? Understanding the goal of your flash sale is important when crafting your strategy, especially regarding the type of promotion or discount you want to offer.

2. Choose the right product for your ideal market.

When choosing the product(s) for your flash sale, you want to make sure your selection is aligned with your target audience and your goals. Although it might be tempting to run a flash sale on any old item you want to get rid of, it is important to make sure your offer provides value to the customer and encourages your target audience to join in on the sale.