"Flash sales," which draw attention as a sales-boosting tactic for e-commerce sites, offer products at special, limited-time prices to increase purchase intent — an important technique for driving sales growth.
This article explains in detail concrete methods for running a flash sale on your Shopify store. We'll walk you through it step by step, from basic setup using Shopify's native discount feature to more advanced flash sale operations.
If you're considering introducing flash sales, please read to the end.
What Is a Flash Sale?
A time sale (flash sale) refers to a time-limited sale run only for a set period.
Flash sales bring benefits to both the store and users. For the store, it means increased sales in a short period, more efficient inventory clearance, and an opportunity to acquire new customers. For users, they can buy products at a lower price than usual and get a special "only right now" feeling. It can also encourage the purchase of products they were on the fence about.
Implemented properly, it's an effective sales technique that can simultaneously boost sales and improve customer satisfaction.
How to Run a Flash Sale on Shopify
Use Shopify's Native Discount Feature
By using Shopify's native discount feature, you can easily run simple flash sales, such as a storewide sale or a sale limited to a specific collection.
The blog article below explains Shopify's native discount feature in detail. Please use it as a reference.
Use a Shopify App
If you want to run a flash sale limited to members only, or limited to VIP members, this can be difficult with Shopify's native discount feature. If you want to run a more complex flash sale, consider using a Shopify app.
Recommended Shopify Apps for Flash Sales
RuffRuff Order Bonus
RuffRuff Order Bonus is a Shopify app that lets you implement various discount strategies under any condition.
For example, you can implement discounts such as the following:
- Free shipping exclusively for VIP members
- Discounts by membership tier
- Volume discounts
- Discounts when a specific product is included
- Discounts for customers with 10 or more past purchases
- First-come, first-served discounts (20% off for the first 10 customers)
- Flash sales
and more.
Many other discount strategies can also be implemented. For more details, check the service page via the button below.
RuffRuff 予約販売
"RuffRuff 予約販売" is a Shopify app that lets you run pre-orders with simple setup and accept an unlimited number of pre-orders. It has earned the mark of the highest-quality apps, "💎Built for Shopify."
With a single app, you can achieve limited-time sales, flash sales, upcoming-release announcements, recurring sales, pre-orders for made-to-order products, member discounts, VIP member-only sales, purchase restrictions on blacklisted members, deferred payment, bundling controls, quantity limits, product card badge display (Starter plan or higher), hiding delivery date/time selection, multilingual support, and cart button design customization, among other features.
How to Run a Flash Sale on All Products
This section introduces how to run a flash sale on all products using Shopify's native discount feature. By configuring this section, an order discount will be automatically applied to the total amount in the cart during the flash sale period.
(1) In the Shopify admin, click "Discounts"
(2) Click "Create discount"
(3) Select "Amount off order" from the discount type
(4) Select "Automatic discount" from the method
(5) Enter any name in the title
ℹ️ This will be displayed to customers as the coupon code
(6) In the discount value, set the discount rate (or amount) for the flash sale
(7) Set the purchase type
ℹ️ If you want to run the flash sale on one-time purchase products only, select "One-time purchase"; for subscription products only, select "Subscription"; for all products, select "Both."
(8) In the active dates, set the start and end date/time of the flash sale
(9) Click "Save discount"
How to Run a Flash Sale on a Specific Collection
This section introduces how to use Shopify's native discount feature to run a flash sale limited to products within a specific collection. By configuring this section, a product discount will be automatically applied to eligible products in the cart during the flash sale period.
(1) In the Shopify admin, click "Discounts"
(2) Click "Create discount"
(3) Select "Amount off products" from the discount type
(4) Select "Automatic discount" from the method
(5) Enter any name in the title
ℹ️ This will be displayed to customers as the coupon code
(6) In the discount value, set the discount rate (or amount) for the flash sale
(7) Select "Specific collections" from the applies-to field, and add the collection targeted for the flash sale
(8) Set the purchase type
ℹ️ If you want to run the flash sale on one-time purchase products only, select "One-time purchase"; for subscription products only, select "Subscription"; for all products, select "Both."
(9) In the active dates, set the start and end date/time of the flash sale
(10) Click "Save discount"
How to Run a Members-Only Flash Sale
With Shopify's standard discount feature, it's difficult to run a members-only sale based on login status. The blog article below introduces a concrete method for solving this challenge using the RuffRuff Order Bonus app. Please use it as a reference.
Conclusion
This article explained how to run a flash sale on Shopify.
By leveraging Shopify's native discount feature, you can easily set up a storewide flash sale or one limited to a specific collection. With the right discount rate and duration settings, you can expect an effective boost in sales.
That said, if you want to run a members-only sale or a flash sale with more complex conditions, consider introducing a dedicated Shopify app.
Flash sales offer customers an attractive purchasing opportunity and are also an effective means of boosting sales for the store. Use the content of this article as a reference, and be sure to try leveraging flash sales in your own Shopify store.
