2011 was plagued by flash sale sites, to the delight of savvy consumers around the world. These are the sites that offer unbelievably low-priced items, vacation packages, spa treatments, electronics and almost every other product you could possibly think of.  The items on sale are available for a limited time only, and a flash can last for a few hours to a few days, depending on how in-demand the item is.

From 2009 up to the present, the use of daily deals sites by retailers and consumers increased by 368%, according to a recent report (see infographic below).  Email, social media and search drive traffic to these flash sites, with email having the highest influence in traffic at 18%.

According to the infographic by Monetate, flash sales with a shorter time-frame are more effective.  Two-hour flash sales are 14% more effective and have higher click-to-open rate, while 3-hour flash sales are 59% effective with having the best transaction-to-click rate.
Daily deals sites are so popular that investors were clamoring to get their hands on a piece of their hot assets.  Below are just a few examples of how “hot” flash and daily deals sites are:

• Groupon had their IPO this year and raised $700 million resulting in a valuation of $12.8 billion.
• Fab received $40 million in a Series B round of funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.
• Lot18 received $30 million in a third round of funding led by Accel Partners.
• Plum District received $20 million in a venture capital round of funding led by General Catalyst Partners.
• Gilt Groupe secured $138 million in funding and is valued at $500 million
• Nordstrom acquired HauteLook for $180  million

Make it Hot

If you’re a startup daily deals or flash site and want to get the best out of this venture, here are a few tips to help you reach your goal:

• Make sure your e-mail, posts or any type of messages that pertain to the flash sale contains the time and duration of the sale, shipping offer or info, and the coupon code for the flash sale item/s
• Make sure that when customers click through from e-mail to your website, the transition should be creative or enticing
• Add product badges containing the flash sale price to make it stand out
• And make sure you notify people visiting after the flash sale that the sale is over so as not to create confusion.