43 Pct Of Consumers Participate In Product Drops, Flash Sales

Special sales events — especially for limited edition products, for exclusive offerings — have the power to lure consumers from all walks of life.

Especially younger buyers.

As detailed in The Product Drops: Retail’s New Conversion Play report, a PYMNTS and Scalefast collaboration, surveys across more than 2,200 consumers found that product drops, flash sales and online buzz can keep consumers engaged and eager to buy.

As many as 43 percent of individuals have participated in these events, according to the survey, and drilling down, more than 21 percent have attended product drops, more than 32 percent have participated in flash sales.

Around 60 percent of bridge millennials and younger consumers have been part of those retail-focused occasions, and the activity skews decidedly younger, as just 22 percent of baby boomers have done so. Higher income individuals, measured at $100,000 or more in annual pay, are in tune with these events, with 53 percent of consumers within that earning bracket having taken part in those events.

The reasons why individuals are interested in these events are varied: About two-thirds of those who have been part of product drops say they have done so because they were able to access items at a good price; nearly three-quarters of respondents said the same thing about flash sales.

Nearly half of respondents said they’d sought out these events because they were able to gain access to hard-to-obtain items in product drops.

And by and large, consumers are satisfied with the experience. Of the individuals classified as having increased their brand affinity, 78 percent said they’d been very or extremely satisfied with product drops; roughly the same had similar feelings about flash sales.