The first SALE patterns on Crazypatterns

Hello dear forum members,

As of today, the SALE functionality is being tested. The SALE setting for products can temporarily only be applied manually by a staff member. For customers (buyers), this function is already fully available. 

Current SALE products:

* 20% Knitting pattern for beginners - baby shoes
* 30% Wonderful Christmas decorations to sew and crochet yourself
* 20% SET: Baby shoes knitting pattern and sewing pattern for baby blanket
* 70% Super easy sewing pattern for a ring pillow

Dear sellers, if any of you would like to take part in the test, please send me the product IDs and the desired discount percentage by PM (or here in the forum). You can find the product ID in the browser address bar on the product page after "items/".

IMPORTANT! The seller commission is calculated based on the reduced price. 
If the tests are successful, the functions will be made available to sellers (via the product manager).

Please report errors by PM / email (or, if they are not critical, here in the forum).

Additional views:

* Search: https://www.crazypatterns.net/de/search?keyword=Babyschuhe&c=3
* Category: https://www.crazypatterns.net/de/babyschuhe-stricken
* Store: https://www.crazypatterns.net/de/store/Natalija/bestseller
* Collection: https://www.crazypatterns.net/de/collections/view/3/babyschuhe

Best regards
Alexander

I had already reduced the prices of several patterns recently based on your suggestion—will they be added automatically?

Hi Orimono,

we need to change that now. Unfortunately, I don’t know the old prices. Can you tell me the products and their old prices?

Best regards
Alexander

Hi Alexander,

I have a question. You mention that the sale feature is fully available to buyers. How can I, as a buyer, use this feature? Can I set up notifications to be alerted when my favorite product goes on sale? Or is there a specific page where I can find an overview of all sale items? Or do I have to go directly to a specific store to find the deals there?

As a seller, the future functionality and usage are clear.

Nici

Hello Nici,

“Fully available” means that buyers can already purchase at the reduced price and that products are displayed with a “SALE” label on all overview pages. I did not mean to say that all features are completely implemented. At least one more “SALE” category will be implemented. We are open to further suggestions.

Your item: https://www.crazypatterns.net/de/items/759/e-book-haekelanleitung-damen-wohlfuehl-socken

Best regards
Alexander

Hi Amexander,

I just sent you the list via private message.

Best regards, Johanna

 Thanks for the info, Alexander :)

I’m not sure what to make of this.
On the one hand, the SALE option is obviously a good thing—it lets you get
the pattern you want at a lower price—but on the other hand, I suspect that more people will wait until the patterns go on sale, or that people might even ask specifically on Facebook when a particular pattern will be completely free or finally cheaper.
I know full well that sales can get people to buy. It works great in stores, too, and those red “Sale” tags are just irresistible.
But I’ve always thought that the sellers on crazypatterns stand out for their quality and don’t need to advertise with flashy discounts.
If it’s the case that they put a specific pattern on sale for two weeks to generate targeted advertising not just for that pattern but for all the others as well, then that’s a different story, of course.
And I definitely think it’s great that the sellers are supporting the sale. After all, they’re giving up a portion of their earnings per pattern—I hope they at least get more sales in return.

"Sale" is really meant to clear out full inventories, e.g. when product lines change.
For digital goods, a "sale" makes no sense to me, since the goods aren’t being sold off.
If a product isn’t selling because it’s too expensive, you simply make it permanently cheaper—you could label that as a "price reduction" for a month.

I agree with Muetzekatze: “Sale” categories carry the risk of encouraging a “wait-and-see” attitude.

My personal opinion and conclusion:
If a pattern has a certain monetary value and that value is real, there’s no reason to sell it off at a bargain price (which is essentially what a “sale” is). It will sell on its own. If a pattern isn’t selling, you should reconsider the asking price—perhaps it’s simply too high.
As a seller, I can certainly do without bargain hunters; they generally don’t appreciate the work that goes into it. Those who do appreciate the work will buy the pattern even at full price. Your contest showed exactly what bargain hunters are like: they download it quickly and don’t even say thank you.
Be that as it may, in my opinion, “Sale” has no place here, since there isn’t actually a clearance sale taking place.

My experience on other platforms:
Running a sale over a specific period (e.g. 1 month) doesn’t increase the number of sales. It just shifts them over time.
The bottom line is that there’s less profit left over, since people end up waiting for discounts and then buying.
Even if the number of items sold increases slightly, that doesn’t necessarily mean more profit. You’re just attracting buyers who then won’t buy at full price, even though they would have otherwise.

Anyway, I don’t want to dwell on this any further—it’s up to each person to decide for themselves.

If the sale brings new customers to the platform who return regularly and shop regularly, that would be a great thing.

The sale promotion didn’t do me any good at all. Sales didn’t increase, but my revenue actually went down.

And I didn't have fewer sales, even though I hadn't taken part.

My own quote from my post further up ^^:

My experiences on other platforms:
Running a sale does not increase the number of sales over a certain period of time (e.g., 1 month). They only shift in timing.
At the end of the day, there is less profit left because people then always wait for discounts and buy then.
Even if the number sold increases a little, that doesn't necessarily mean more profit. You only attract buyers who then no longer buy at full price, even though they actually would have.

I would be interested to know whether the other shops are experiencing the same thing as WolleWahn.

All I can say is that we saw 2–3 times our usual sales during Easter Sale week. Unfortunately, I can’t say how the sales were distributed. I’m sure there were shops that sold more than others.

Best regards
Alexander