Women?s shoe designer Jack Rogers is now holding flash sales through its Instagram account and mobile-optimized Web site.

A post on Instagram advertises a pair of sandals with the caption explaining the sale with the hashtag #FlashSale and #lovemyjacks. Consumers are encouraged to continue to the Jack Roger Instagram bio page where they can click on a link to purchase the sandals.

?Since mobile shopping and purchases now account for the majority of online sales, retailers are making mobile a focus for digital promotions and commerce,? said Ken Morris, principal at Boston Retail Partners, Boston. ?Jack Rogers is a well-established brand of sandals with mass customization that is trying to capture the imagination of college students and younger demographics who are active mobile shoppers.

?According to research from Forrester, 87 percent of Instagram users are under the age of 35 and 55 percent are female,? he said. ?Jack Rogers? lines of sandals specifically for college and sorority colors are a perfect fit for the younger female demographics of Instagram.

?The flash sale on Instagram will create excitement among Jack Rogers? customers from social shopping.? 

Jack Rogers is known for designing custom and monogram sandals as well as other shoes and accessories. Available in a few Jack Rogers stores the brand is also sold in department stores such as Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom.

#Lovemyjacks
Hours after the original post on Instagram, the shoe designer posted a video displaying the available colors of the on-sale shoe. The shoes are only marked down about $18, but through clever marketing customers continue on to get the deal.

Because it is a flash sale, the deal is only available for one day making it urgent for consumers to buy immediately.

Jack Rogers' sandal flash sale on Instagram

Although Instagram does not offer clickable links for non-sponsored posts, this sale is still relatively easy to navigate. The ease of the brand?s mobile-optimized site makes the shoes readily available for customers to purchase. 

This is not the only effort that Jack Rogers has put into social media and mobile.

The brand extensively promotes its hashtag #lovemyjacks on Twitter and Instagram, encouraging customers to post pictures and tweets of their Jack Rogers shoes. Pictures posted from costumers are displayed on its site.

List of posts with #Lovemyjacks on Twitter

The sandal designer takes advantage of the popularity of vacations, summers and the live-free lifestyle. Various pictures of beach scenes and landscapes are displayed on its Instagram and Twitter pages.

Social media sales
The flash sale is one of many sales promoted through social media by Jack Rogers. A giveaway for Tate?s Bake Shop was recently held for Valentine?s Day.

With each purchase in-store and online, Jack Rogers? customers received two packages of Tate?s chocolate chip cookies. Pictures of the cookies with merchandise on social media advertised the promotion.

Take a bite out of Jack Rogers' sales

An online sale was held before the Tate's effort. Customers received 10 percent off with a code provided in photo captions on the brand?s Instagram.

Flash sales are something that retailers and brands have been doing for a while now, popularized by Gilt, Rue La La and Group. The introduction of mobile media has grown flash sales' popularity.

Some online services such as Rue La La and Amazon's My Habit are devoted to only flash sales.

Other retailers have noticed. For example, Gap Inc.'s Old Navy brand recently held a flash sale so as not to lose sales during the snowstorms in the Northeast, offering customers 30 percent off for one day only. 

Offering these sales through social media grabs attention of consumers. Instagram?s addition of clickable links for sponsored posts will increase traffic to outside advertiser Web sites (see more).

?Instagram is the most popular network for sharing images and is a great forum to promote products that are visually appealing like Jack Rogers sandals,? Mr. Morris said. ?I expect to see more retailers follow suit with more flash sales on Instagram and other image-related social media sites like Twitter, Pinterest, Vine, Tumblr and Snapchat.

?Industry research indicates that Instagram posts generate 100 times more engagement per follower than Twitter and 50 times more than Facebook,? he said.

Final Take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer and Mobile Commerce Daily, New York