Promote limited quantity Shopify products to capture more sales
Around this time every year an interesting trend takes place in my household. You see, with Easter behind us, this is the time of year when our Cadbury egg stash starts to run out.
Apparently, I've passed down my love of chocolatey cream eggs to both of my kids. So when our Cadbury egg supplies are running low, I am reminded of how motivating scarcity can be. Once the stash gets down to the last few, the Cadbury eggs all of a sudden become the most popular dessert choice in our house.
Scarcity can be a powerful motivator. When something is about to run out, this can trigger a fear of missing out and thus make people more likely to choose an item before it's gone.
In today's post I'd like to discuss how you can take advantage of scarcity in your Shopify store by promoting your items that are about to run out.
We'll discuss:
- Why promoting limited quantities available can lead to more sales
- Tips for placement and promotion
- Display real inventory quantities for better results
- Use product badges to make your message stand out
Why promoting limited quantities available can lead to more sales
Promoting items that have limited quantities is often used as a sales motivator in e-commerce shops.
But does it work?
Promoting limited quantity items is effective for two reasons:
- It promotes scarcity
- It creates a sense of urgency
Using scarcity and urgency to improve sales has been proven to be effective at increasing sales. If a customer is on the fence about a purchase, the fear of missing out on a scarce item can be a big motivator to help them decide to buy.
Tips for placement and promotion
On Shopify there are a few tried and true places to display the limited quantity available message. These include:
- Product pages
- Collections
- Search results
- The Cart
Placing this message in these places is a great way to make sure your customer sees it throughout the buying process in your Shopify store.
When it comes to displaying the limited quantity message, a good start is to use text such as:
Almost gone!Limited quantities
This text should stand out from other product text in your Shopify store, such as by using a different color.
Display real inventory quantities for better results
One way we can improve on the limited quantity messaging is to display the actual inventory available for each product.
So instead of saying:
Almost gone!
You can say something like:
Only 5 left!
Showing the real inventory works better because it makes the message have more impact. The inventory number makes it clear at a glance exactly how many items are left. Whereas, a more general message that doesn't include inventory might be easily dismissed as a marketing technique.
Use product badges can make your message stand out
One additional tip to make your limited quantity promotions even more effective is to wrap the message in a product badge.
Here's an example of the same limited quantity message in product badge form:
As you can see, the product badge version stands out much more than just text alone.
Product badges are more likely to capture the attention of your customers which should ultimately make your promotions more effective.
Increase sales by up to 175% with product badges
- Use product labels to help products sell faster.
- Highlight best sellers, new arrivals, almost gone, and more.
Increase sales by up to 175% with product badges
- Use product labels to help products sell faster.
- Highlight best sellers, new arrivals, almost gone, and more.
See the guide
Summary
Promoting your limited quantity items in Shopify can be a great way to add some scarcity and therefore urgency to your store.
Using scarcity and urgency are powerful motivators which can motivator shoppers to buy for fear of missing out.
You should be sure to promote your limited quantity messaging prominently throughout your store.
For an added boost, use real inventory values combined with product badges to make your message even more effective.