If you have a small business producing new products, the topic of pre-sales has most likely come up at some point. Offering your customers a chance to purchase items before their release can add a lot of value, as pre-sales can be a great tool to connect with your audience and build excitement. Here are a few advantages of pre-sales for your next product.
Cash Flow
By offering an item before its release date, you receive capital you otherwise would not have. Especially for small businesses who watch every penny by necessity, front loading some of the profit you'll make from sales before laying out all of the cash for production can be a huge help. This will increase your cash flow and ease the burden and pressure of not knowing if your product will generate income.
Creativity
The proliferation of funding sites like Kickstarter, Indigogo, and GoFundMe has proven that there are myriad wonderful product ideas out there that would never see the light of day without pre-sales. Running such a campaign allows your business to test the consumer waters and maybe try some products you might otherwise consider too risky.
Anticipation
When a new item is introduced but not quite yet “attainable,” hype builds. Excitement grows. Anticipation intensifies. It's human nature to want what we can’t have and to make sure we have the opportunity to grab it (see any product release for which people line up around the block or camp out for days). By offering a pre-sale, you are essentially playing into that desire and offering the buyer the chance to attain something they otherwise would have had to wait for. They become part of a special club, as it were, and builds loyalty when done right.
Free Social Proof
Pre-sales create multiple opportunities for fun, exciting marketing campaigns. But the best ones create opportunities for free marketing. Social proof. There is no better marketing than when your customers become advocates on your behalf. When your customers begin to share your product because they were able to get in and order early—and they want to do that; you just have to give them the chance—all of their friends and followers will feel the pull and you're product will begin to make the rounds. This can happen at any point in the life of your product, but pre-release offers unique opportunities that can be incredibly valuable.
Freight Relief
Any business owner understands the pressure and stress of relying on freight to have your product in hand—especially if you've been shipping products in the last year. By offering pre-orders, you can ease the stress on your mind of having to have your product in hand by an immediate date. Pre-orders buy you time with freight instability because you're not trying to stock shelves to get sales. You're simply delivering products that have already been sold in the most efficient and effective manner possible, but it doesn't affect your bottom line.
Customer Loyalty
Customers like to feel special. They want to feel like they have insider information or special access to something that other people do not. Pre-sales are a great way to offer your customers exclusive access to your brand. This builds loyalty, and helps create customers for life.
If you're ready to create brand-developing products that connect with your customers and enhance your brand, CōDRA is the collaborative partner you need. Contact us here.