We are continuously developing the Rocketspark platform and a key focus at present is the development of new features to help our ecommerce clients generate more business — and to streamline the operational side of things so that their business can scale well. Two recent examples of this focus were the launches of Laybuy and GoSweetSpot integrations and now we’ve just launched a new set of features to help with running specials with discounted pricing and collecting an order from a physical pickup location.
One of our most frequent requests from clients was the ability to apply discount coupons to a specific product or range or products. What we’ve done is provide that coupon functionality but have also introduced another way of providing promotional discounts without the need for a coupon.
Promotions to get the pricing right
With the ease of which you can assess a range of options at your fingertips when searching to buy online it's really important for e-commerce merchants to get the pricing right. With online sales you can certainly make a great impression with a hot looking website but the reality is you don’t have the same opportunity for interaction and selling that you have in a face to face business.
Our new promotions feature makes it really easy to create special pricing without needing to create coupon codes. You can now create discount offers that will apply a promotional discount for a pre-set period of time and display the promotional price in your online shop.
A nice part of our new promotions feature is that you can apply the promotional discount to specific categories, brands and tags or apply the discount sitewide.
Promotions can still be applied in conjunction with coupons and we’ve made some nice improvements to our coupons feature.
To demonstrate this new feature an online store my wife and I have just launched with two friends is offering a 20% promotional discount as a special launch offer. Check out the online store at www.pureandwholesome.co.nz to see how the promo feature works (and maybe even grab a nice offer if you are based in NZ).
Coupons for specific products
We’ve introduced new coupons functionality which enables you to create different coupons for specific categories, brands and tags. As multiple tags can be applied to products you can use the tags feature to create clever discount offers.
Our new coupons functionality also introduces the ability to edit and delete coupons so if you want to revive an expired coupon to re-run a special offer you can simply edit the dates to make it active again.
With promotions and coupons you really need to understand how they work so that you don’t end up giving away the house or tying yourself in knots with multiple offers so be sure to check out all the details in the user guides below.
Pricing inspiration with promotions and coupons
If you put your thinking cap on you can use the promotions and coupons functionality in a variety of innovative ways. Here are a few ideas to get you started
- Test the response to different prices by using promotional offers to change the price
- Use the promotions feature to clear excess stock or launch a new product
- Run seasonal specials at times popular for increased gift spending like Christmas, Fathers Day or Mothers Day
- Create some excitement in your social media or email marketing activity with promotions and coupons
- Say thank you to loyal or new customers with a percentage discount off their next purchase or create a fixed value amount off coupon as a credit
- Create gift cards / vouchers with a one-time use fixed value coupon
New pick up options for online sales
Amongst our clients we see a range of online and offline sales channels used. Some clients start with online only stores and then start to sell from a physical store as their business grows. Other clients like Needle and Nail use markets to promote their products and complement their online sales while other stores like Mr Ralph started with a main street presence and then added ecommerce and then went online only.
Our new pick up feature enables you to create pickup locations for clients who like to buy online and would like to collect their order rather than pay to get it delivered. This option is perfect of you have a physical store or you occasionally appear at various markets and can can offer pick up on specific dates.
Our pick up feature has some nice functionality built in to send a message to your customer when you set the order as ready for collection.
How to use these new Rocketspark features?
To learn more about how to use these new features see our support guides:
