What will be more effective in online selling? Discount or Freebies?
Online Selling is an art and luring the customer to buy from you through Amazon or eBay like shopping portals is an even bigger art! In this process, most of the sellers experiment with offering discounts and freebies. So which one would give better results? Well, it all really depends on the kind of customer that you are tackling. Some consumers may value a freebie or a carefully chosen free gift more than a deep discount and vice versa. These are two major ways how entrepreneurs attract buyers online and truth be told, there is no one particular hard and fast rule carved out in stone that is going to spell out success for your brand.
A discount, for instance, is lucrative from the “d” to the “t.” The customer would wait for an entire year for any particular product of their liking to get cheaper and cheaper so that they can finally fit it in their budget and pocket. Then they don’t really care if it is a specific launch of an already worldwide popular brand in their country or a promotional item that promises the same quality that its predecessor did.
This is true especially for middle-class individuals that form a major portion of the target audience of plenty of online businesses. Now attach this discount coupon or offer to a name that rings a bell. If the discount comes from a prestigious brand, there is a sense of surety that comes with it and the consumers would know for sure that this in fact not a clearance sale of the stock that was rejected in the international market. So yes, discounts are a big sales gimmick and work all the time.
You can Also Read: How To Attract Local Customers To Your Online Shop
But what if the consumer is looking for something extra for their money’s worth? Yes, there are individuals among us whose sole religion apart from stealing their dad’s credit cards for shopping online is looking for offers that say, “free gifts,” or “buy 1 get 1 free.” Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? This is a small world after all and at least one corner of our dwelling houses a free gift seeker. This is actually a good habit though because it plays out well for both the seller and the buyer. Now, the overall cost of the product and the free gift is usually included in the total sale but then more often than not the margin is reduced up to a great extent. This leaves a great choice of products for the buyer and hence the purchase happens.
In many cases, buyers end up with free gifts that are worth much more when they buy them individually. Even studies say that the “assured free gift” tag does not only deliver a gift that is free but also value for the money spent. So, it is completely safe to say that choosing between a discount and freebie online or offline is a strict no-no. Perhaps we could find a gray area?
