Running the same sales and promotions year-round can get repetitive and boring, both for your customers and you as a store owner. So, you might be looking for some March sales ideas to freshen up your approach.
March provides plenty of seasonal marketing opportunities for spring or autumn, depending on which hemisphere your business is in. Plus, you can use our Advanced Coupons plugin to easily run flash sales for International Women’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and more.
In today’s guide, we’ll explain the benefits of running online sales in March. Then, we’ll discuss four March promotion ideas to help you get inspired. Let’s get started!
The Benefits Of Running Online Sales In March
March might not be the month that comes to mind when you think about running sales and promotions. However, it could be short-sided to overlook it.
Unfortunately, March is typically a slow month for online sales, especially when compared to the heavy hitters like December and January. So, you’ll need to put in extra effort if you want to tempt customers to buy during this period.
Here are a few dates to focus on in March:
- March 2: World Book Day. This international celebration is the perfect opportunity to land some extra sales if you run an online bookstore or sell magazines.
- March 8: International Women’s Day. You can appeal to customers on this day by offering flash sales for different kinds of gifts. Plus, since women are so diverse, you can promote everything from clothing to books and electronics.
- March 17: St. Patrick’s Day. This Irish holiday is also celebrated in many other countries, including the United States. It’s time to sell everything green in your store, from clothing and accessories to even food.
- The start of spring/autumn. Depending on whether your target audience lives in the northern or southern hemisphere, March signifies the changing of the seasons to spring or autumn. Why not jump onto the trend with a “spring cleaning” sale or play up the fall theme in your seasonal promotional offers?
There might also be some regional holidays celebrated in March. It’s simply a matter of thinking outside the box!
4 March Sales Ideas
We recommend planning your March promotion ideas in February or even January. This will give you plenty of time to organize your sales and prepare your stock.
We also recommend investing in a WooCommerce coupon plugin and learning the ropes ahead of time. With Advanced Coupons, you can easily set up discount vouchers, Buy One Get One (BOGO) deals, store credit, and more. This tool is essential to running sales all year round and managing everything from your WordPress dashboard.
Then, here are four March promotion ideas to help you get started!
1. Run an online competition
Running an online competition is a great strategy year-round, including during March. Since sales are typically lower during this month, a contest can generate new leads and long-term loyalty to your business.
For example, you might offer entries into the prize draw in exchange for customer email addresses. This approach can help you build your email list and introduce new consumers to your products. Alternatively, offering gift cards as prizes ensure the winners will spend in your store.
Running your contest on social media is typically the easiest way to reach more users. It’s also worth putting a banner at the top of your website that visitors will immediately see.
A plugin such as RafflePress can help you easily set up a competition on your WordPress site:
It includes a drag-and-drop builder for designing competition templates and campaigns. Plus, RafflePress integrates with social media platforms and email marketing software.
2. Offer spring/autumn sales
As we mentioned before, March signifies the transition into March in the northern hemisphere. Since “spring cleaning” is a common theme for this season, you can apply it both to your store and your sales strategy.
Consider running a “spring cleaning” sale to get rid of excess stock. You can use Advanced Coupons to create BOGO offers or offer a flat percentage discount. This approach works even better if your online store actually sells cleaning products:
Alternatively, if your target audience is in Australia, New Zealand, or other southern hemisphere countries, you can lean on the autumn themes for your sales. This is a great occasion to promote your gardening and outdoor living products, along with warmer clothing to help customers through the cooler months.
3. Run flash sales
Flash sales are limited-time promotions, often related to specific events. This month, consider running 24-hour or 48-hour sales for International Women’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and other March holidays.
This March promotion idea is effective because flash sales promote Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). Customers won’t be able to put products in their carts and forget about them without missing out on your discounts and deals.
In addition, Advanced Coupons makes it super easy to run WooCommerce flash sales. Once you’ve created your coupon and configured its discount settings, you can set the voucher start and expiry dates under the Scheduler tab:
Then, it’s just a matter of promoting your sale through social media posts, banners on your website, and emails to your subscriber list. Make sure to let customers know that your sale is for a limited time only!
4. Set up your Easter promotions
March also presents an opportunity to start planning for Easter and other April sales promotions. Since Easter is such a significant holiday, we recommend creating Easter-themed banners and social media posts for your upcoming sales.
This is also a great time to evaluate the success of your previous promotional strategies. Since March is a relatively slow month for sales, you might have some extra time on your hands to review your online store’s analytics. Then, you can start planning improvements for the rest of the year.
Conclusion
Although March isn’t a typical month for record sales, that doesn’t mean you can’t put some promotional strategies into practice. Whether you’re capitalizing on March-specific holidays or planning your advertising approach for the rest of the year, this month provides plenty of opportunities to connect with customers, identify leads, and turn a profit.
To recap, here are a few March promotion ideas:
- Run an online competition.
- Offer “spring cleaning” or fall-specific sales.
- Run flash sales on March holidays like International Women’s Day.
- Set up your Easter promotions.
Do you have any questions about putting these March promotion ideas into action? Let us know in the comments section below!
