To Have a Sale...or Not to Have a Sale...

Not to get all Shakespearian on ya or anything people! (Sorry, I couldn't resist, I'm kind of a dork :)...anyway, I am having a 2 week sale in my Snitterdog shop as part of the birthday bash for Etsy For Animals...(I'll get back to that later in the post).

Right now I would like to talk about the pro's and con's of having a sale on an ecommerce sight, in particular, Etsy. If anyone has anything to add, please feel free to comment! :)

I think some of the pro's (obviously) would be making some sales, particularly at a time when the economy is not in good shape, and sales are slow. I also wonder if it may draw in new buyers looking for a bargain....Once in a while I will do a search for "sale" to see what's out there...I wonder if others do this too :) Another benefit is the possibility of repeat business-- getting new buyers who maybe become repeat buyers, or previous buyers who may come back for more :)

Drawbacks-- will people just wait for "your next sale?"....This is something I wonder about...I had a new customer once tell me how much she liked my work and that she was happy it was on sale. This made me happy of course, I was thrilled she liked my work, and also happy with the purchase. It made me wonder though...do people wait to purchase sometimes, hoping for a sale?....particularly if you have sales a lot?...

I don't have sales a LOT...I do have a tendency to participate in group sales though...I did the Yart Sale (which was a great one)! and also a sale that a bunch of us in the ACEO Bounty Challenge participated in-- that was a good one too :)

Anyway, I thought I would do a post on the topic of "having a sale" because I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it-- how often, what kind of sale, etc...I was toying with having a sale at my other shop, The Greene Fairy, but I haven't decided yet...Will having sales too frequently reduce the value of my items?...I wish I would have taken some business classes in college :O...

As for the sale I am having: I'm part of the efa, also called Etsy for Animals. There are about 120 Etsy shops participating in this. We're animal loving types who often donate to animal charities :) The shops participating are doing a 20% off sale-- all you have to do is leave a message in "notes to seller" at checkout...my coupon code is SNITT (can ya guess where that comes from)? ... :) The code you can use at any of the participating shops is "MEOW"...The seller then refunds the 20% :) Here is a link to find all the participating shops! :)

http://efaartistshelpinganimals.org

Anyway, I may have to do some "research" about marketing and sales :)...I like to be informed...(I try anyway)! :)