Deal!

Background

In order to capitalize on excess closeout inventory and demand for high-discounts, we wanted to create a ODAT system: the "DEAL!".​

The launching of the DEAL required a whole new process, built from the ground up:

• Management tools
• Analytics
• Front-end display on mobile and desktop
• Triggered emails
• Triggered social updates via Twitter's api

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Process

The DEAL management tools consist of a group of browser-based UI's that allowed the team to manage DEALs down to the sku level:

• Price
• Duration
• Sell-through-rate
• Twitter notifications

As an outdoor enthusiast, I want a place for extreme deals on gear, because I'm willing to try something unfamiliar if the price is right

Drag-and-drop sorting allowed for future Deals to be arranged quickly. Integrated analytics allowed for merchandising decisions to be made without leaving the tool. Name and ID search allowed for old DEALs to be found and re-launched with minimal adjustment.

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Keeping the DEAL 'fresh' was important from two different perspectives:

1. On the site, the DEAL page needed to automatically check the status of the current DEAL to insure it is up-to-date even if the page was opened during a previous DEAL.
2. The back-end service needed to be constantly updating the status of the current Deal based on external triggers such available-to-sell calculation and expiration time.

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Retrospective

Visitors to the DEAL pages consistently converted at 3-4 times the site average. The DEAL page was nearly always within the top 5 most visited pages on the site.​

Next...

• The biggest challenge to ongoing DEAL conversion was inventory levels. Clearly, products with low inventory were mostly likely to be slated for promotion as a DEAL, but the low inventory created an obstacle for keeping interest up on any certain item. Buying stock specifically to fill the Deal list is the next challenge to overcome.