E-Commerce Trends Strategies to Use Amazon Coupons that Sellers Must Know

On Amazon, where competition for sales is fierce, strategically implementing couponing can be a decisive factor in attracting consumer attention and increasing sales. However, simply offering discounts with coupons is not always enough to generate the results that sellers expect. In this article, we'll take a look at the strategies and practices to effectively use coupons.

Why are coupons important to Amazon sellers? First, an Amazon consumer's shopping experience starts with a search for the product they want.
Amazon coupons are a great way to stand out in product search results and capture consumers' attention. Amazon coupons can be used for a variety of marketing and promotional activities, from finding new customers to retaining loyal ones.
The values of Amazon coupons can be summarized as follows:

Green Badge Effect - Gain a competitive edge in search results: On Amazon, products with coupons applied are marked with a green badge on the search results page. This gives consumers a visual cue that the product is available at a discounted price. This makes the coupon product more prominent compared to other products, and consumers are more likely to click on the green coupon badge and the lower-priced product while scrolling through the search results page. ^[1][2]

Offer discounts and focus on consumer attention : Coupons allow you to purchase products at a discounted price. Consumers are always looking for opportunities to get products for cheaper prices, and coupons are one way to fulfill this need. This makes the product more appealing to Amazon consumers. Products that are discounted are more likely to attract consumers' attention. Discounted products attract more clicks and views than other products, which means higher visibility in search results.

Create a sense of urgency : Coupons create a sense of urgency for consumers because they are often temporarily valid. The fact that a limited number of coupons are available in a limited amount of time encourages consumers to make a purchase.

Drive purchases : According to consulting firm Boston Retail Partners (BRP), nearly two-thirds (67%) of U.S. e-commerce consumers surveyed said they are more likely to shop at a store that offers coupons than one that doesn't. ^[6] Products with discount coupons help drive purchase decisions. Consumers don't want to miss out on a good deal, which makes products with coupons more likely to be purchased. Coupons act as a halo effect for increased sales. They increase click-through rates and conversion rates, which in turn increases sales and helps improve sales ranking. ^[1][2]

Increase brand awareness : Products with coupons increase brand awareness. If consumers learn more about the brand and its products through discounts, they may be more likely to choose the brand's products in the future.

Clear excess inventory and near-expiry inventory during off-peak seasons : Managing excess inventory and near-expiry products during off-peak seasons, unlike peak seasons such as Prime Day and Black Friday, can be challenging. In these cases, high-discount coupons can be a great alternative to clear inventory by encouraging consumers to buy. How to strategically use Amazon coupons Now that we've covered why sellers should use Amazon coupons, let's take a look at how to use them strategically.

Set goals : Set clear goals before using coupons. Set a goal for how you want to utilize coupons: whether it is to increase sales, increase brand awareness, or clear out inventory. Once you have a specific numerical goal, for example, a 20% increase in sales month-over-month, analyze at least a year of historical sales data to identify the advertising and marketing tools that spike sales at that time. If your goal is to increase brand awareness, you might consider running coupons with low discounts all the time. If your goal is to clear out inventory, then you'll want to offer at least double the average discount of your competitors or a peak season discount.

Manage budgeting and expenses : There is a fee when you use a coupon. It's $0.6 per coupon. If you're running coupons and ads together to boost the performance of your promotion, make sure that you don't go over your budget. Coupons automatically stop running when the budget is exhausted, so you don't need to be particularly vigilant, but ads run independently of coupons and can still run even if the coupon budget is exhausted and the ad campaign ends. To avoid unwanted ad spending, monitor the coupon operations page and adjust your ad operations if the coupon is discontinued.

Optimize listing : Implement listing optimization that allows Amazon shoppers to explore your products as if they were shopping in a brick-and-mortar store, including textual content that boosts searchability, such as titles with relevant keywords and key product features, as well as high-quality product images and infographic images that bring your products to life.

Maintain adequate inventory : Maintaining adequate inventory is especially important when you're running promotions or discounts, unless your goal is to get rid of inventory. The last thing you want is to run out of inventory, so you can determine the right level of inventory to ensure that you have enough to cover the increase in sales. The right inventory level is usually determined by analyzing a year or so of historical sales data. The amount of inventory is based on the average number of orders generated by similarly discounted coupons during the same time of year and the previous two quarters, plus a judgmental amount based on sellers’ own experience.

Decide how and how much to discount : Sellers can choose from one of two Amazon coupon discount types. The first is a discount off the listed price, and the second is a percentage discount. The discounted price can be as low as $1, and the discount can be as low as 5% or as high as 50%. Discounting the asking price gives consumers a more intuitive understanding of the discount by directly stating the amount of the discount. If you use a percentage discount, then depending on the price of the product, a percentage can make the discount appear larger, so it's important to consider this when deciding on the type of discount. The higher the discount, the better, and you should set the maximum discount depending on your business situation. You can get a good idea of how much to discount by doing a search for your product's keywords to see what your competitors are discounting. If your product is highly discounted, it's more likely to show up on Amazon's coupon page. While it's not known what Amazon's criteria are for products to appear on the coupon page, it's generally accepted that products with high discounts appear on Amazon's coupon page. ^[1][2]

Starting March 12, 2024, coupons will have new pricing requirements. The discounted price must be lower than the 90-day average price (Was Price) on Amazon or lower than the most recent lowest price. ^[3][4]

Amazon Ads : Run an Amazon advertising campaign. Amazon ads show products with coupons on the search results page and can help you increase sales by targeting consumers who are searching for products similar to yours or using related search terms. Amazon keeps most of its internal data confidential, but Amazon seminars and webinars have shown a 20% improvement in results when combining campaigns with coupons.

Promote on social media and more : Promote your coupons effectively so that they reach a wider group of customers. You can use a variety of channels to promote your coupons, such as writing posts about them, posting them on your social media, blog, or sending emails to customers. If you have a separate promotional budget, you can also consider running ads on social media platforms. How to set Amazon coupons Amazon Coupon settings can be found in the Amazon Seller Central Advertising menu. Selecting the Coupons menu under Amazon Seller Central Advertising will lead you to the Create Coupon page.

There are two types of creating coupons: bulk, where you set up coupons for a large number of products in a provided template, and individual, where you search for products by ASIN.

If you create coupons in bulk, then you can fill in the template with the required information and upload the file. If you are creating individual coupons, then you can fill in the information on the coupon settings page.

Bulk coupon creation is much more useful if you have a large number of products. It's recommended for existing sellers who are familiar with Amazon's selling system, as any errors in the template, such as typos or unnoticed blanks, will prevent coupons from being created properly. If you're a new seller, I recommend creating coupons directly in Seller Central. Even if you're a new seller who plans to sell a large number of products on Amazon, it is recommended that you try out Seller Central coupon creation first to get a feel for bulk coupon creation. If you're an existing seller with 20 or fewer products, then it's easier to create coupons in Seller Central.

The main required information you need to set up a coupon is the product, eligibility, duration, discount type, amount, and budget. ^[5]

Before creating a bulk template, read the template's guide carefully. Cells that are filled in by the seller are grayed out, red cells are marked with an item, and orange cells are cells where the seller should not enter any data. The example coupon settings data cells can only be viewed, but never edited. As mentioned earlier, you need to be careful not to make errors, and here is one way to reduce errors: You can copy and paste the example data in the orange cell and modify it to suit your situation. This reduces errors caused by the seller typing directly into a blank cell.

Let’s take a look at a hypothetical case for creating coupons:

Overview of a hypothetical coupon case
o Number of products: 2 (Hypothetical ASIN: B012888888, B012999999)
o Discount amount: 15%
o Coupon budget: $900
o Coupon phrase: April Promotion
o Period: Apr 2, 2024 – Apr 9, 2024
o Use coupon once: No
(This is an optional checkbox. If you want to allow customers to use the coupon multiple times, select No, or uncheck it; if you check it, customers can only use the coupon once.)
o Subject: All Amazon consumers

Let's take a look at filling in a bulk-type template.
First, the template - Two orange lines in the excel file show the example data for price and percentage discount. The example data from the orange cells with the same % discount as the hypothetical case should be copied each and pasted into the gray cells.

Now complete by modifying the content with the hypothetical case.

The upload location for the coupon creation file is located just below the template file download location. Click the “choose file” button and upload your coupon creation file.

Let’s create a coupon in Seller Central.
Creating coupons in Seller Central gives you more options and is more intuitive than bulk templates. The workflow is a three-step process: Products - Details - Review.

Coupon creation workflow step 1 - Products
o Select a coupon type: Standard, Recurring discount, Reorder
o Select potential audience type: All customers, Prime customers, Brand customers (available from 1,000+ brand customers)
o Select products: Searchable by ASIN & product name, and the checkboxes to select the products for which you want to create a coupon.

Coupon creation workflow step 2 - Details
o Duration: Set between 1 and 90 days
o Discount method setting: Price discount, % discount
o Limit redemption to one coupon per customer: Uncheck the box to issue unlimited coupons, check the box to issue only 1 coupon per customer.
o Budget: Minimum of $100 or more
o Coupon text: Enter a coupon title of 100 characters or less

Coupon creation workflow step 3 - Review
o Confirm that the coupon content entered is correct and click the “submit” button to complete the coupon creation.

Amazon coupons offer many benefits to sellers as a business tool. They play a significant role in increasing the visibility of products and attracting consumers' attention and encouraging them to make a purchase. When strategized according to sellers’ business goals, coupons can help them drive sales and enhance their brand. # References [1] Mastering Amazon Coupons: A Comprehensive Guide for Sellers, Premiere Creative
https://premierecreative.com/blog/amazon-coupons/
[2] WHY YOU SHOULD BE USING COUPONS TO SELL MORE ON AMAZON, OperationRoi
https://www.operationroi.com/amazon/why-you-should-be-using-coupons-to-sell-more-on-amazon
[3] New coupon pricing requirements, Amazon
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/headlines.html?id=GW6GAF7ZEAH35NJX
[4] Understanding coupon errors, Amazon
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/GLBL4T5C9UAB9T5P
[5] Create a coupon, Amazon
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/G202189350
[6] 2019 SPECIAL REPORT: The Mobilization of Retail, Boston Retail Partners
https://web.envistacorp.com/hubfs/Reports/BRP%20Special%20Report%20-%20The%20Mobilization%20of%20Retail%20-%20enVista.pdf

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