If you ware following the news, Nike Factory Store decided to cancel its Buy Two, Get Two Promo today. That disappointed a lot of sneakerheads planning to score a deal, especially with those who actually lined up for the sale.
In a statement posted in one of its store’s doors, Nike Factory Store said that they “will abide by the guidelines set by the government to ensure the safety and security of everyone.”
*Here’s an old video of how good are the deals at Nike Factory Store when they announce massive sales like this:
Granted that we can go to malls to shop (though with social distancing measures), it is still not wise to hold a sale at physical stores for the time being. As the majority of stores are resorting to online sales, I do think massive sales like these should be held online while we are still under the new normal. Here are some things that outlet stores can do once they have a working eCommerce site (like what adidas Outlet store and Park Outlet Store have):
Create an online queueing system
Sales like this can go crazy as heck, holding them online can cause a website crash. To resolve this, outlet stores can create a queuing system to properly accommodate customers. Aside from a queuing system, outlet stores can spread out the time of their sales online (like what Lazada would do during its monthly flash sales) to balance the load on their websites.
With this method, outlet stores can fairly accommodate customers throughout the day (or several days), and ensure that everyone gets a fair chance at shopping for great deals.
Randomize the free items
To avoid customers taking advantage of these promos by reselling items from buy one, take one deals, outlet stores can do a mystery package-like method for the “take one” part, just like how adidas does its Lucky Bag packages in Japan.
By randomizing the free items, this adds a layer of excitement to customers once they receive their orders. Who knows, they might score a major pickup with one of their orders.
Impose a limit to the number of items each customer can buy
With “buy one, take one” sales being crazy, outlet stores should set additional rules to prevent customers from hoarding items (and resell them for a profit later on). I suggest that to keep things fair, outlet stores can cap this to a maximum of 10 items (factoring the buy one, take one promo, that makes it a maximum of five items) per customer.
That way, outlet stores can ensure their inventory to be stable, and that it should avoid customers from hoarding too many items.
Make sure logistics are all ready and good to go
Since it is not yet safe to go out, outlet stores should make sure that their logistics is ready to accommodate the influx of customers with their orders. This means having a network of delivery services (regardless if it is through LBC, Lalamove, GrabExpress, or other providers) to ensure that all items get delivered to customers as soon as possible.
With such massive sales, a delivery time of anywhere between four to seven days after the sale should be enough, and that these logistics should provide tracking numbers to keep customers updated with their orders—especially if delays are expected.
And that’s my thoughts on how outlet stores can adapt to the changing times. Are there other suggestions you guys can add? Share your thoughts in the comments section!
