Amazon Clearance Promotions and Sales Detailed: Strategy and Practice Guide
The Amazon platform provides a variety of promotional tools to help sellers increase product sales and clear slow-moving inventory, including “Outlet Deals” and “Outlet Sale”. Although both aim to solve the problem of overstock, they have significant differences in terms of operating mechanisms, display effects, and discount requirements.
Outlet Deals
A “clearance sale” is a limited-time promotional offer specifically designed to clear overstocked inventory and will typically be displayed on a specific Outlets page for two weeks until existing FBA inventory is sold out. Compared with flash sales and seven-day flash sales, it focuses more on clearance rather than simply increasing sales. Products participating in the program need to meet certain conditions, such as being in a salable condition and having a good sales history. In addition, there are no additional fees for Clearance Sale, and sellers only need to pay standard shipping fees and sales commissions.
How to apply for clearance promotion?
- Log in to the Amazon seller account backend, select “Inventory Planning” from the “Inventory” menu, and then click “Manage Redundant Inventory”;
- For eligible products, select “Create Clearance Promotion”;
- Enter the clearance promotion price and make sure it is lower than or equal to the “maximum clearance promotion price” given by the system;
- After submitting the application, wait for the review results. If approved, Amazon will notify you by email.
Outlet Sale
Different from the limited-time feature of “clearance sales”, “clearance sales” are created by sellers who set the price reduction range and are suitable for long-term promotion needs. Although it can also help clear inventory, it does not have a dedicated display page and is limited to discounts of more than 20% off on most sites. It is worth noting that this tool is particularly popular on US sites.
A brief description of the steps to create a clearance sale
- Access related pages through the “Inventory Planning” function of the seller platform;
- Use the filters to determine which ASINs are eligible to create a Clearance Sale or Run a Promotion.
Why choose a clearance sale/sale?
No matter which method is used, it can bring multiple benefits:
- Effectively relieve inventory pressure: Solve the problem of backlog and out-of-season inventory;
- Optimize cash flow: Improve cash flow by selling overstock;
- Saving warehousing costs: Reduce additional costs incurred due to inventory accumulation;
- Enhance brand exposure: Especially for companies looking to expand into international markets, such activities can help increase brand awareness.
In short, the correct use of these two clearance tools provided by Amazon can not only help companies manage inventory efficiently, but also promote brand growth and development.