The Future of Flash Sale
Can you make the most of your one-day limited sale with vending machines?
It may sound like an ominous date: 6.6. Even if you are not more on the superstitious side, you can’t lie that seeing the calendar having the same number on both month and day, it makes you feel you want to make the most of that day. It sort of becomes an inkling or a reminder for something important that happened on that day, like weddings, birthdays or anniversaries. In business, these kinds of dates work as an opportunity for limited promotional discounts. So technically, making the most of that day: retail version.
Seeing today that marketplaces are the hot one-stop shopping experience in Indonesia, where people can just make a purchase online while on-the-go. Sometimes, these marketplaces offer lower prices than the ones at the offline store, and from there it only gets sweeter as free delivery shipping is offered most of the time. Then it gets crazier during those twin dates like on November 11th, December 12th or like today June 6th, as it is seen as a way to make the day feel special, with discounts and vouchers. You definitely will feel a surge in the sales drive on that day when your business decides to join in. And if you can feel that, then others will do, too.
Boxed dreams
Having a brand that sells well surely is the pipe dream in business. However, we know one thing for sure: when you want to sell something during a special day where everyone is already eyeing the products they want, it can be difficult. Plus, packing and shipping are quite a lot of homework. You then think there should be a way where you can sell your products, still on sale, without having to pack and ship anything. Sure, an offline store will be the dream, right? You can’t stop imagining the way people flock into the store, browsing around as you sell your products, let’s say, on buy 2 get 2 promo during 2.2. Renting a store, or even owning one, is quite expensive as it is. You also have to maintain the place including the human resources.
“Marketing communications are the means by which firms attempt to inform, persuade, and remind consumers – directly or indirectly – about the products and brands they sell.” Kotler and Keller (2012)
However, either way it depends on how you market the product. Depicted from Kotler and Keller’s book, when you communicate your brand, there is a chance your product is discovered even when it is only an attempt, as it also counts as marketing. How would you feel if you can still sell your products offline, without a store, but still have the marketing presence to be discovered? As a matter of fact, it’s just exactly what vending machines do.
Half the price
Now you have a vending machine in mind. Today, it can be customised with stickers on its body, it accepts cashless payments, and it can be checked remotely. With only taking such a small space, you can have a rental cost equivalent to half a small store. Almost everything you have ever dreamed of. But to get to the main concern of joining the monthly sales event of sales on twin-dates days, what can you do about it with a vending machine? For this, you can still join via changing the price of the product remotely.
A smart vending machine with Cloud Management System can make sure you know which products sell well since you can see the inventory and the sales report. From here, you can set the sale price through One Time Promo and Flash Sale. The term flash sale itself is unfamiliar, isn’t it? For One Time Promo, as the name indicated, you can give a promo to certain products inside your vending machine during your desired time. You can change the price, the nominal, or the amount of discount percent of your products with the dropdown menu on your vending machine product inventory count. From there, you can also set a range of time that feels good for you, or in this case: one day-limited sale. Similar to Flash Sale, the same term you heard from marketplaces, this promo is applied to every product in your machine. The only difference is that you don’t have to manually set the price daily, as they can be set as recurring events daily or maybe in a certain period of time in a week.
On the other side
It can be tough to sell products from a machine that still needs to have access to connect with possible customers anywhere and anytime. People will prefer online shopping any day, but let’s picture it this way. In this era of advanced technology, with higher numbers of competitors, creating innovations combined with technology is actually a good strategy, because it is important for businesses to have a way to stay connected with customers. We previously covered this innovation via omnichannel marketing, by using vending machines to do retails. It helps the customers’ needs by combining online and offline shopping experiences, while also increasing the seller’s profits. Who knows that within the next five years, the future of flash sale shopping is via vending machines? Maybe customers can purchase something online, then proceed to retrieve their products by scanning a barcode to a vending machine. Not fully online, but less the time to browse around. Besides, we need to actively move those muscle joints by going mobile, right?
So with Smartven now you can sell the products on promotional sale to celebrate the one day-limited shopping event. Just make sure to update your inventories after you put your products on sale. As a retail business solution, Smartven is also a friend for you to grow and reach more customers. You can click the button below and book a consultation with us for further information. You can also check our website and Instagram page. Stay healthy, happy shopping and see you soon!
