If you’re a seller on Amazon you know there are many features and tools to utilize to get additional tractions, notice, and hopefully sales. Lowering your price can be seen as an attractive option but then that cuts into your profit and if you ever do raise prices, customers see that. However, Amazon has set up, Amazon Lightning Deals, time-limited promotions that only last a few hours. Instead of doing a week, or a month sale you drop your prices for a few hours and Amazon promotes your product to users. The customers love this feature, but is it worth it for the brands? 

Amazon Lightning Deals 

Lightning deals give sellers a chance to drive sales and boost visibility. Most sellers are trying to earn the “Amazon Best Seller Badge” and you can only do that by being one of the best shops on Amazon. Lightning deals are a unique opportunity to go beyond traditional promotional strategies. Some benefits to a lightning deal are:

• Increased visibility and ranking – The reality is that special promotions attract new customers. When you do a lightning deal your deal is posted on Amazon’s “Todays Deals” page. With that page being a top visited Amazon page, your product is sure to gain additional visibility and ranking. 
• Inventory Balance – If you’re dealing with additional inventory you need to move it fast. Lightning deals are a great way to get rid of the excess inventory that you’re dealing with. By running a lightning deal you’ll lower the cost of your product for a short time and make additional warehouse room for products by the sales. 
• Promote new products – Starting a new product is difficult. The age-old question of “will this sell?” lingers. Amazon lightning deals are a great way to gauge the interest in a new product. You can boost sales and visibility of a new product with a sale and chances are some customers will even come back to review the product which will also increase your ranking. 
• Behind-the-scenes effect – Not all customers will buy your product, that’s just reality. But the customers who decide not to buy have seen your shop and what you offer. They have visited and behind the scenes are thinking of buy. Maybe they never do, or maybe 2 or 3 months later they return, read the reviews, and buy the product at full price since it’s no longer on sale. Either way, a customer entered your online shop and browsed. 

How to apply for lightning deals 

There are a few basic requirements to apply for an Amazon Lightning Deal. The first is you must be a seller, and you must hold a 3.5-star rating. If your rating is below 3.5, you’ll have to improve that before applying for a lightning deal.

There are 6 requirements for your product. 

• ASIN Approved 
• 3-star rating or above 
• Ample storage 
• Offer Variants 
• Promote new products 
• Reduce the price by at least 15 percent 

Is it worth it?

Customers always want the best deals, and more often than not Amazon’s Lightning Deals are the best deals on Amazon. There are obvious perks and downsides to doing a lightning deal that you must consider, try asking yourself 

“Can we afford this?” 

“Is the product worth it?” 

“What discount are we comfortable with?” 

Once you have answered those questions you should have a clear image of if you want to do a lightning deal or not. Lightning deals do come with a $150 dollar fee for the deal paid to Amazon. At the end of the day, your shop probably won’t make a ton of money from the Amazon Lightning Deal, but the benefits could be worth more in the long-term, than the individual profit per product during the sale.

If you feel like you’re running out of ideas and want to try something new, an Amazon Lightning Deals might just be the best thing for you. You’ll sacrifice profitability, but you’ll gain visibility. 

Phelps UNITED is here to provide expert guidance on your Amazon selling strategy and brand advertising tips, visit our website to learn more.