- In order to create a Lightning Deal, select “Promotions” from the Drop-Down Menu of the “Merchandising” tab on the top menu of Vendor Central.
- On the next page, click the “Start a New Campaign” button on the top right side of the page.
- On the following page, click the “Create a Lightning Deal” button to the right side of the “Lightning Deal” block.
- On the following page, select your “Vendor Code” from the Drop-Down Menu supplied as well as your “Billing Contact”.
- Choose your Start Dates for your campaign in the relevant box below, knowing that the Lightning Deal only runs for up to 6 hours at a time.
- Below this Start Date box is an option you can select that reads, “I want Amazon to evaluate my deal and consider placing purchase orders at a reduced promotional cost.”
- What this basically means is that you are allowing Amazon to choose the funding method as we discussed in the previous section, that is: either to offer Amazon inventory at a reduced promotional cost, or to offer per-unit funding, which will be applied as products are sold during the promotion.
- If you offer inventory at a reduced promotional cost, Amazon will consider placing purchase orders for products at that cost during the term of the promotion.
- You can see purchase orders placed to support the promotion after the promotion is approved.
- If Amazon chooses this funding method, you cannot edit the promotion amount after you submit it.
- But you can prevent additional purchase orders by cancelling the promotion entirely.
- Please note that Amazon makes its inventory decisions independently, so offering a reduced cost does not guarantee that Amazon will place purchase orders.
- If you offer per-unit funding, Amazon will create a billing agreement and you will fund a per-unit discount for each unit sold during this promotion.
- For example, if you enter an ASIN and the corresponding per unit funding amount of $10, and Amazon sells 30 units of this product during the promotion, you will be billed $300.00 ($10.00 x 30 products).
- By selecting the checkbox, you are asking Amazon to choose the funding method.
- If you leave the checkbox clear, per-unit funding will be the funding method.
- You can then choose to add your products to your campaign in one of two ways:
- Option 1: Enter the ASINs you wish to create Lightning Deals for in the “Refine by” box to the left of the page. Click the “Add” Button alongside the ASINs you searched for as they appear in the blocks to the left of the “Refine by” section. You can then proceed to enter your maximum quantity that can be sold on this deal and either enter one discount as a percentage or monetary value for all selected ASINs, or individually enter unique discounts per ASIN. Note that the minimum discount you can offer on a Lightning Deal is 15%. You will notice that, as you enter your discount value, Amazon gives you a cost breakdown under the product, that is, your cost to Amazon, the current retail cost on the Amazon Marketplace and the likely promotional price. Your percentage will change to a monetary value in the box as well.
- Option 2: You can add products by clicking the “Add” Button alongside the ASINs as they appear on the left side of the page. You can then proceed to enter your maximum quantity that can be sold on this deal and either enter one discount as a percentage or monetary value for all selected ASINs, or individually enter unique discounts per ASIN. Note that the minimum discount you can offer on a Lightning Deal is 15%. You will notice that, as you enter your discount value, Amazon gives you a cost breakdown under the product, that is, your cost to Amazon, the current retail cost on the Amazon Marketplace and the likely promotional price. Your percentage will change to a monetary value in the box as well.
18. Note that for both of the above options, you will be notified if this ASIN is not suitable by a message appearing in a block to the right of the page that says “Based on our forecasting model, this product will not meet our financial or demand requirements for promotions” and a “more info” link, or any other reason the product may not be suitable for the deal.
19. Once you have completed adding your products with the relevant discounts, click on the button to the top right of the page that says, “Continue to Next Step”.
20. Here you can review your Lightning Deal Promotion and choose to edit it further by clicking the “Edit Promotion Details” button or finalise the promotion by clicking the “Submit Promotion” button.
21. Items to take note of in your overview are the “Maximum funding” and “Merchandising Fee” lines.
22. Amazon will review your submitted campaign, and if approved, will send you an agreement to accept which we will go through in the Billing video of this section, unless you have opted to accept Purchase Orders as stated above and Amazon chooses to go with this option for your deal, in which case the Purchase Orders Amazon places will be your agreements for the Lightning Deal you created.