The term ‘firesale’ originated because those households that were damaged due to fire tried to sell off their wares which were also damaged at highly discounted prices to get some value out of something that was already lost. But now, over time, this term has been come to use for any sale of goods that is at discounted prices.
People generally take this measure of selling their possessions so cheap is because they face a threat of impending bankruptcy, and can thus make do with any small amount of money that they can obtain by selling their goods.
A firesale is necessarily distinguished if it incorporates the following features:
• Time Limited: A sale will be called a firesale only if it is bound by a time span, that is, for a short period of time, say, a week. A firesale cannot go on indefinitely.
• Low Prices: Since the purpose of this sale is to get quick money and get rid of the goods quickly, these sales offer a discount which actually becomes an incentive for people to come and have a look and pick up something they like, for a discount.
• Strong Purpose: Only if a sale is arranged with some end in mind, will it be categorized a firesale. For example, if you want to fund your children’s education, or if you want to add to your wedding budget, you could arrange for such a sale and get some extra cash.
A firesale necessarily passes through two important phases or cycles. There is no rule that this must happen, but this is generally the case:
• First Phase: This is when the sellers do not become very rigid about the prices they have in mind at which to sell their wares. This is primarily because they want to attract more and more people so that over the next few days they get a solid customer base. At this stage, therefore, the prices are rather flexible, and at times the sellers are even willing to go lower than their estimated price just to get people to buy more.
• Second Phase: Here is where the prices go up. Though they are still discounted, they are not throwaway prices. By this I mean that the prices actually get rigid because the sellers are now looking at a particular time frame of solid sales where they can make up for the losses they suffered earlier. So if you know how to time your visit to the sale, you can profit a great deal.
The concept of an online firesale is fast catching on these days. In case you still have not figured out what that is, then it is simple a firesale where the dealing happens online.
You provide your product description and the price you are looking at achieving for it, and people who view that description can respond via the online forums and get in touch with you. Here again timing plays an important part.
Here are a few things you need to keep in mind while trying to arrange for an online firesale for your wares:
• Product awareness: You need to find out how widely the details about your sale or your products are known. By means of advertisement you can reach out to a number of people. You will also have to ascertain whether the people inquiring about your product are actually interested or are they just wasting your time
• Pricing: The pricing if done cleverly can actually lead to a lot of gains. It is a clever marketing technique. A seller always tries to keep his prices low so that his products become popular and the demand for his products increases. Having gone on like this for a while, he increases a price in order to cash in on those people who would still buy the product even if the price has been increased a little. This is because the product is still being offered at a discount, slightly lower. After this the seller again lowers his price to get more new customer and the cycle repeats itself.
Therefore, one does not need to be a rocket scientist to profit from a firesale, just mere use of the common sense and the observation of the behavioral pattern of the people who are always on the lookout for such sales to happen are needed
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
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