As a DTC business owner, running a sale event can be a wonderful way to boost your revenue and clear out your inventory. However, it can also be stressful and overwhelming, especially if you are not properly prepared. That is why we have put together this pre-sale checklist to help you plan and execute a successful event. From taking stock of your inventory to testing your offer codes, we’ve got you covered on everything. So, let us begin…
1. Take Stock of Things
Before you begin planning your sale event, it is important to take stock of your inventory and determine what products you want to run offers for. Here are some key things to consider:
a. What Products Do You Want to Run Offers For?
- Create a document or spreadsheet that outlines the specific items you want to promote and discount during your sale (include product names, regular prices and the discounted prices).
- Consider your customers’ preferences and buying habits by looking at past sales data.
- You may want to feature products that you need to move out of your inventory and make room for new products.
b. Do You Want to Push a Product/Category?
- Choose a specific type of product or a particular category of products that you want to highlight and promote during your sale. By doing this, you can tailor your advertising and promotional efforts to create a more targeted marketing campaign.
For example, if you are focusing on summer dresses for your sale, you might create ads that feature images of models wearing the dresses in outdoor settings, with copy that emphasizes the comfort and style of the dresses for summer activities.
For example, if you are focusing on summer dresses for your sale, you might create ads that feature images of models wearing the dresses in outdoor settings, with copy that emphasizes the comfort and style of the dresses for summer activities.
c. Do You Want to Give Off GWP For Stock Clearance?
- You can provide customers with an additional item as a free incentive for buying a product or products. Offering a GWP can be a wonderful way to entice customers to buy, as it adds value to their purchase and can make them feel like they are getting a good deal.
- This can be particularly effective if you are trying to clear out slow-moving inventory, as the GWP can make customers more willing to buy products that they might not have otherwise been interested in.
d. Do You Have Enough Stock?
- When it comes to planning a sale event, it is important to make sure that you have enough inventory to support the expected increase in sales (sometimes as high as 3-5x BAU).
- This may require ordering more products from suppliers or manufacturers or adjusting your production schedule to ensure that you have enough stock on hand.
2. Get Logistics in Place
Once you have determined which products you will be offering, it’s time to get your logistics in place. Here are some important things to keep in mind:
a. Consider Hiring Extra People/Vendors to Fulfill The Potential Surge in Orders
During sale, you may see a significant increase in customer orders, which could overwhelm your existing staff or systems. The ability to process and deliver orders on time is crucial for maintaining customer satisfaction and building trust in your brand.
- Hiring extra staff, such as temporary employees or contractors, can help ensure that you have enough hands on deck to manage the increased volume of orders.
- You may also consider collaborating with third-party vendors or fulfillment companies that specialize in processing orders and shipping products to help handle the increased volume.
b. Pre-Package Fast-Moving Products For Quicker Dispatch
- Pre-packaging your most popular products can save you time and streamline the order fulfillment process because you can quickly grab a pre-packaged bundle rather than gathering individual items for each order. This can be especially helpful if you are expecting a high volume of orders during your sale.
- In addition, by creating bundled packages at a discounted price, you may entice customers to purchase more products than they would have if they had to purchase items separately.
c. Look at Historic Sale Numbers to Predict Stock Requirements at A Warehouse Level
- By analyzing the data from your past sales, you can estimate how much inventory you will need to support your sale event, thereby minimizing the risk of stockouts and backorders.
- By reviewing your historic sales data, you can also identify trends in customer behavior, such as which products are most popular during certain times of the year and adjust your inventory levels accordingly.
3. Craft the Offer T&Cs Smartly
Crafting your offer terms and conditions (T&Cs) is an important part of planning your pre-sale event. Here are some key things to consider:
a. Don’t Frustrate Your Customer with Tricky Cart Builder Offers
Let’s say you have products that are priced at ₹199, ₹299, ₹399, and ₹499. To incentivize customers to buy more, you offer an additional 15% discount on the total cart value for orders over ₹999. However, the prices of your products make it highly likely that customers will end up with a cart value between ₹995-₹998, which is just shy of the discount threshold. This can lead to frustration for the customer, who may feel like they missed out on the discount by just a small amount.
To avoid this frustration and potential loss of sales, you can adjust the discount threshold to ₹995 and turn the frustration of missing the discount into delight for the customer, who will appreciate the extra savings and may even be more likely to return for future purchases.
b. Prevent Stockouts and Reselling: Set a Maximum Order Quantity for Customers
- Limiting the number of products that a single customer can buy during your sale event can help prevent customers from buying all your inventory.
- Setting a maximum number of orders per person can also help prevent reselling, where customers buy copious quantities of products during sales events to resell them later at a higher price.
c. Set Limits to Optimize Logistical Costs
Shipping costs can be expensive, especially for heavy or bulky items, and can eat into your profits if you are not careful. To avoid overspending on shipping costs, you can set a maximum quantity per order based on the cost of shipping per kg.
4. Set Up and Test Website/App
Before you launch your sale, make sure your offer codes are set up and tested. Here are some main points to consider:
a. Perform Load Tests
- Performing a load test is an essential step to ensure that your DTC website can handle a high volume of traffic and orders to provide a seamless shopping experience for your customers.
- To perform a load test, you can use various load testing tools available online, which simulate high traffic and order volumes on your website. These tools can help you identify the maximum number of users and orders your website can handle at once, and how it performs under different load conditions.
b. Check For Requirement of Dedicated Landing Pages
- Creating dedicated stand-alone landing pages for your sale event can be a fantastic way to promote your offers and drive conversions.
- Make sure that your call-to-action (CTA) is prominently displayed and easy to find, so that customers know exactly what they need to do to take advantage of your offers.
c. Offer Should be Pushed on Both; Website And Apps (Android, iOS)
To ensure that your sale event is successful, it is important to promote it on all your online platforms, including your DTC website and mobile apps.
- Firstly, make sure that your website and apps are updated with information about the sale event, including the dates, discounts, and any exclusive offers.
- Consider sending push notifications to your app users to inform them of the sale and encourage them to check out the deals
- Keep your messaging consistent across all platforms to avoid confusion and ensure a seamless customer experience.
d. Ensure Offer Visibility on Each Page
- When hosting a sale event, it is important to make your offers as visible and accessible as possible. One way to do this is to ensure that your offers are displayed prominently on every page of your DTC website and app. This can include adding a banner or pop-up to the top of each page, featuring your sale offers in the main navigation menu, or creating a dedicated section on your homepage that showcases your sale products and discounts.
- It is also a good idea to use eye-catching graphics and compelling copy to highlight your offers and create a sense of urgency. For example, you might use phrases like “Limited time only” or “While stocks last” or put a countdown timer to encourage customers to act quickly and take advantage of your sale offers.
By following this pre-sale checklist, you can ensure that your DTC website is properly prepared for the sale event, and that everything runs smoothly. This can help you maximize sales, customer satisfaction, and ultimately, the success of your business.
