Chocolates and flowers go hand in hand with Valentine’s Day, which is great if you happen to be a chocolate or floral brand. But this is 2018, Valentine’s Day traditions are no longer mandatory, which is fortunate because chocolates last a matter of seconds and flowers don’t last more than a week.For Valentine’s Day 2018, retailers considered the day to be a shopping holiday, or at least an opportunity to market their product in the most loveable way possible. Dominos created a novelty love sweater, while Bumble teamed up with Sydney Dogs and Cats where singles could create their own suite of ‘date bait’ profile pics, featuring the cute puppies and kittens of Sydney. But with this day becoming less about romance and more about consumer shopping, it was only fitting a partner like Afterpay would leap at the opportunity to unite brands together to create ‘Afterbae’.
Introducing 'Afterbae'
Afterpay launched their first ‘Afterbae’ sale over Valentine’s Day, where retailers were asked to provide compelling offers to incentivise customers to use Afterpay. Over 750 retailers jumped at the opportunity with offers of up to 40% off for 24 hours. The results of this sale were overwhelming.A beauty retailer participating in the sale saw the below outcomes:- Revenue increased year on year by 1253%- Conversion rate increased year on year by 807%- Orders increased year on year by 1313%This isn’t the first time Afterpay experimented with a flash sale. In August 2017 they ran their first ever flash sale to celebrate acquiring a million customers. The sale broke retail trade records with more than 70,000 orders were processed and during the first hour of the sale, 1.5 orders were processed per second.[caption id="attachment_2994" align="aligncenter" width="575"]
Afterpay on The Daily Mail[/caption]With an abundance of retailers on board, it was only natural for brands to compete for exposure. All forms of digital media were flooded with ads from brands participating in the Afterpay event in an effort to differentiate their sale from competitors. The real kicker is Afterpay’s name is linked to every promotion. That’s 750 retailers all promoting Afterpay’s sale across various platforms, with Afterpay’s name attached to every single one. Well played Afterpay.[caption id="attachment_2995" align="aligncenter" width="321"]
Mon Purse promotes Afterpay on Instagram[/caption]
Flash Sales, Afterbae and Affiliate Marketing
The savvy shoppers would have been all over the ‘Afterbae’ sale, but the savviest of shoppers would have utilised affiliate sites in order to receive extra benefits. For example, those shoppers would know that they’re eligible to earn cashback through sites like Cash Rewards and PricePal, or earn points for every transaction from Qantas Mall or Velocity. So here you have a sale where customers received an exceptional deal, but then utilised affiliate sites in order to receive an even better deal. Now that’s smart shopping.[caption id="attachment_2996" align="aligncenter" width="531"]
Cashback site co-promotes Afterpay's partners to drive sales[/caption]Flash sales are a great way to incentivise customers to purchase quickly. Afterpay identified Valentine’s Day as a potential shopping holiday and used a flash sale as a way to create buzz around this day. By uniting brands in their flash sale, they were able to create demand and allow both the brand and themselves to generate incremental revenue in a short period of time.To learn more about Navigate Digital’s Affiliate Marketing services, and how your brand can leverage events like Afterbae, click here.By Laura Anschau, Digital Media Executive
