Promotional Sales Lift
Percentage increase in sales of a promoted product during a promotional period compared to baseline sales
What is Promotional Sales Lift?
Promotional sales lift is the percentage increase in sales during a promotion compared with what would normally have been sold. It shows how much extra business a promotion created.
Retailers run many promotions, and lift shows which are genuinely worth their cost rather than just giving discounts on sales that would have happened anyway.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Marketing
- Sub-function
- In-Store & Retail Marketing
- Industry
- Retail
- Type
- Lagging
- Impact
- Revenue
- Unit
- %
- Measurement frequency
- Per campaign / Monthly
- Formula
- ((Sales during promotion − Baseline sales) / Baseline sales) × 100
How to calculate it
Subtract baseline sales from sales during the promotion, divide by baseline sales, and multiply by 100.
For example, if a product normally sells 1,000 units a week and sold 1,400 during a promotion, lift is ((1,400 - 1,000) / 1,000) x 100 = 40%.
The baseline is the difficult part. Use recent non-promotional weeks and adjust for seasonality, and check for a dip after the promotion as customers who stocked up buy less.
Where it is used
Choosing promotions
Compare mechanics such as discounts and multi-buys.
Planning stock
Estimate demand for the next promotion.
Testing profitability
Compare extra sales with the margin given up.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Lift can be flattered by customers buying early. Look at the post-promotion dip.
- A big lift at a loss is not a success.
- Use test and control stores where you can.
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