Amazon deals: how to use coupons & lightning deals to boost sales

It is well known that users often search for offers when purchasing products (both online and offline). Amazon, for its part, makes available to platform merchants many methods to boost their sales.

And one of these is just the promotions: whether it’s fixed amount discounts, percentages on the price or free shipping, it has been shown how much impact offers have on consumers’ purchasing decisions on the platform.

But deals on Amazon are not only used to boost sales. They are often used to:

• Improve – and target – brand awareness;
• Increase traffic to listings;
• Improve the quantity and quality of reviews about specific key products in the sales strategy.

Here is an overview of the main methods that Amazon makes available to Sellers and Vendors to offer their products at a reduced price:

Coupons

They are offers that entitle discounts on specific products, so-called “eligible products”, and differ from generic discount coupons precisely because you can use them to buy certain items (and not anyone). They are displayed as a user-selectable and redeemable discount before placing the product in the cart.

Sellers can offer coupons on a single product or a set of products, and users can instead know which products with coupons are available via the following path:

Amazon -> Offers -> Coupons

Coupons do not last forever but are subject to a limited time: once the user selects the coupon, the expiration date will be shown.

However, not every Seller can apply coupons for all products. The following eligibility requirements exist:

• New products (not used);
• Average rating of at least 3.5 stars for products with over 5 reviews.

NB: products with no reviews are also eligible.

On the other hand, used products, adults’ products and Hunting and Fishing, Guns, Sexual Well-being and Books, Music, Videos and DVDs products are not considered suitable.

Witailer Tips

Although you can establish discount percentages independently (between 5% and 80%), it is advisable to define a coupon that entitles you to a discount of at least 15%, to be positively promoted by the Amazon algorithm.

Lightning Deals

They are promotional offers that remain active for 12 hours, while supplies last (the latter criterion is relevant because these types of deals require the setting of a maximum quantity), on Amazon Today’s Deals page.

For this type of offer, the eligibility requirements are:

• A discount of at least 15% compared to the reference price of the product (but in any case that beats the lowest price of the last 30 days);
• Products with a consolidated sales history and seasonally relevant;
• Average rating of at least 3.5 stars for products with over 5 reviews.

Lightening deals are subject to approval by Amazon. Each also includes a fixed fee, payable once at the end of the promotion period.

Witailer Tips

To maximize the potential of the offer, Sellers in particular should:

• Make sure that all the content of the product page (images, bullet, title, etc.) are up to date and consistent with the nature of the product offered in the promotion;
• In the case of lightening deals, make sure that the products “promised” on offer from Amazon are available in the quantities previously chosen;
• Amazon assumes the right to revise the terms of the offer until the moment of its activation, so a first acceptance does not guarantee the safety of last-minute changes: For this reason, it is essential to monitor the conditions of the offer to the last.

7-Day Deals

For 7-day deals, the same rules and criteria generally apply as for lightening deals, with only two differences:

1. The duration of the offer, which is precisely 7 days;
2. There is no maximum amount (the offer automatically turns off after 7 days).

Witailer tips

• Use the Amazon-recommended ASINs for your promotions;
• Upload high-quality images for sponsored products (no text, logos or filagree);
• Optimize product pages with bullet points, images and advanced content (such as A+).

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