Activity operation, a complete analysis of the gameplay of flash sales activities

618 is getting closer, and major e-commerce websites such as Tmall, JD.com, Suning.com, and Gome have begun to enter a stage of fierce competition. In addition to distributing various coupons, major flash sales are frequently launched on the hour. JD.com flash sales, Juhuasuan flash sales, NetEase Kaola flash sales, etc. are launched one after another.

Moreover, these flash sales have evolved from single-product flash sales to flash sales of coupons, discount coupons, and category coupons. There are endless ways to grab coupons and good things at the hour. So what does the flash sale mean to e-commerce platforms, and what role can it play in attracting new users to the website? This article will mainly discuss the gameplay of flash sales.

1. What is a flash sale?

As the name suggests, flash sales refer to a sales method in which platform merchants release some super-low-priced goods in a fixed period of time, and all buyers rush to buy them online at the same time.

Since the products are relatively cheap, they are often snapped up by buyers as soon as they are put on the shelves, sometimes in just one second, so they are often called flash sales.

As a marketing tool, flash sales take advantage of the user psychology of limited time, limited quantity, and first-come, first-served to stimulate purchases or create opportunities to attract user attention. And with the upgrade of the flash sale gameplay, large discount coupons are now used as commodities, using the linkage gameplay of flash sale + coupons to promote store sales.

2. Five behavioral elements of flash sales

Generally speaking, there are five important behavioral elements in a flash sale. Only when all five elements are complete can it be called a complete flash sale activity. The specific contents are as follows:

1. Second kill time
2. Flash sale products
3. Flash sale inventory
4. Flash Sale Rules
5. Second sale threshold

The specific content can be understood through a flow chart:

In addition to these five behavioral factors, there are many other elements, including the design of the flash sale page, the design of the product main picture, etc., which will not be elaborated here one by one.

3. Analysis of the Business Logic of Second Sales

Through JD.com’s and Tmall’s Juhuasuan’s flash sales, we can find that the flash sales activities of the two e-commerce platforms are currently mainly concentrated in three stages: 10:00-12:00 in the morning, 14:00-16:00 in the afternoon, and 20:00 in the evening.

In fact, those who have worked in e-commerce operations should have experience. Usually, the peak traffic of e-commerce apps is basically concentrated between 9:30 and 10:30 in the morning, and 20:00 in the evening is also a peak period. Therefore, the time period for flash sales is also set to be consistent with the traffic peak of the APP.

There are two ways to play here: instant kill at the hour and long-term instant kill.

1. Flash sales at the hour: Flash sales at the hour are aimed at high-value items or items with strong flash sales. The main purpose is to increase the user activity of the APP during that period through these high-value items, play a role in diverting traffic, and encourage users to consume through other APP gameplay.
2. Long-period flash sales: Long-period flash sales are the flash sales activities that we often see that last for a day or even several days. This kind of gameplay cannot be called a pure flash sales. The items in this type of activity are relatively general and the discounts are limited. As long as the long-term span of gameplay is used, the items can gain more traffic. This type of gameplay is generally used for new products, hoping that through the gameplay of flash sales, new products can obtain a large amount of traffic in a short period of time, thereby creating an atmosphere of explosive sales.

Because for merchants, there are only three purposes for them to participate in flash sales:

1. Quickly obtain product traffic and accumulate store sales
2. Open low threshold conditions to attract buyers' attention and create product characteristics
3. Drive product sales through flash sales and improve the store search ranking of the single product, thereby increasing the store weight

Because the purpose of merchants participating in flash sales is these, when we do flash sales, we need to consider what methods can be used to bring traffic or sales to the single product. Therefore, when doing flash sales, we must pay attention to the following two points:

1. The same product can only participate in one flash sale of the same type during the same event period;
2. One order can enjoy the flash sale discounts of two or more different product types at the same time

Through these two methods, the sales volume and traffic acquisition of products participating in flash sales can be fully guaranteed.

4. Scenario-based application of flash sales

1. Online e-commerce store promotion

An online beauty store launched a flash sale during the 618 shopping festival. The original price of a lipstick item A was 1,200 yuan, but now it is priced at 980 yuan. The store then launched a discount for purchases over 1,500 yuan, offering a 200 yuan discount. Therefore, for buyers, if they want to enjoy the discount, they need to buy 2, and the price is 980*2 minus -200=1760 yuan.

But if you also participate in the store's coupon activities at this time, that is, full-category coupons: 200 yuan off for purchases over 1,000 yuan. Therefore, this order also meets this condition, and the final order price is 1760-200=1560 yuan.

Therefore, through the combination of flash sales and coupons, the final transaction price of the order was 1560/2=780 yuan. Compared with the original price of 1,200 yuan, it is a super discount of 35%. If buyers want to enjoy the discount, they need to purchase 2 or more, which indirectly promotes store sales.

2. Offline store traffic diversion

An educational institution recently launched a flash sale course on the Renrenxiu platform to attract students to the second-level construction engineering comprehensive course.

The first step was to launch all-subject special practice questions for the second-level construction qualification at a flash sale price of 0.1 yuan, in order to attract users' attention through the low price. However, the answers were separated from the question bank, so after users purchased the question bank, they had to go to the store to participate in the event to receive the answers.

The event successfully attracted nearly 800 people to the store within a week of its launch, and the average daily store visits increased by 200%.

3. Offline store promotions

Not long ago, in order to cooperate with the 618 event, Suning.com also launched a flash sale on the Renrenxiu platform, bringing air conditioners, televisions, coffee tables, kitchen appliance packages, toilet lids, tempered glass films for mobile phones, razors, etc. from Suning.com's offline stores online. During a limited time, users only need to pay 0.01 yuan to enjoy the benefits of placing orders with super high coupons in offline stores.

For Suning.com, the campaign first accumulates customers and campaign popularity through online communication, then directs traffic to offline stores through offline store purchases and orders, and uses the 1-cent flash sales to lock in customers in advance, providing analytical data for product inventory and user demand during the promotion period.

V. Conclusion

The difference between flash sales and group buying and bargaining is that flash sales are very time-sensitive and focus on creating an atmosphere of scarcity and scramble. As long as one user is found grabbing a product, other buyers will surely flock to it. As long as the price is right, they rarely consider whether the item is a necessity at the moment. They just want to stock up on it because they will use it sooner or later.

In addition to boosting product sales in a short period of time, another function of flash sales is to attract a large amount of popularity. How to retain or direct this traffic offline is something that every operator needs to think deeply about.

However, the current flash sales methods are still relatively simple. In the future, more innovative new methods need to be created to give users more discounts and attract long-term retention.

Related reading:

1. Activity operation: an inventory of mainstream gameplay such as group buying, bargaining, and distribution!

2. Three key points of event operation: How to increase users’ willingness to participate in activities?

3. Event operation: How to do a live broadcast sharing that can attract 10,000+ users?

4. What you need to know about event operation | The basic process of operating online events

5. Event Operation: If these 4 points are met, there is no event that cannot be done well

6. Event operation: How to run a good event? Share 4 points!

Author: Renrenxiu

Source: Renrenxiu