SmartBargains.com’s business model already has a built-in factor that creates a sense of urgency among consumers and gets them to buy: deeply discounted brand name merchandise that arrives in limited quantity and sells out quickly. Now, it’s added another feature along the same lines.
This month, it launched Lunchtime Specials, particularly good deals on newly arrived merchandise that are featured prominently in a box at the center of its home page. The featured products are offered at a discount off the already-discounted price – but only for a three-hour window. Prices on the selected items drop by a specific amount starting at noon and go back up at the stroke of 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, which coincides with some of the site’s heaviest traffic hours. To drive home the message that it’s a timed opportunity, the box displays the time left until the offer ends and shows the minutes counting down.
While that may sound something like an eBay auction, the strategy also resembles some of the timed offers on TV shopping networks. “TV shopping channels have done an excellent job through the years of increasing the sense of urgency on TV, and not a lot of e-commerce companies have been able to capture that, which is a significant part of what we do at SmartBargains,” says CEO Carl Rosendorf. “The Lunchtime Special is just another way to do that on our site.”
Rosendorf didn’t disclose sales results, though he said the company is pleased with results of the program so far and with consumers’ positive response. “It’s very important for any retailer to offer customers opportunities to save money and have fun. That is a strategic view we take and our Lunchtime Special program helps us do that,” Rosendorf says.
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