Amazon Prime Day is almost here and with it comes prime (if you'll pardon the pun) opportunity for brands. Prime Day is one of the biggest eCommerce events of the year generating increased online shopping activity not just on Amazon but across multiple brand and retailer sites. Furthermore this sales lift is not limited to the day itself as the increased brand visibility and awareness Prime Day delivers translates into a long-term sales lift too.
If you're wondering how to prepare for Prime Day as a seller or a brand you'd be right to think ahead. It is the biggest eCommerce event of the summer.
In 2020 Amazon Prime Day was delayed until October. But this year the 48-hour sale will return on June 21st and 22nd in 2021 according to reports. Only Amazon Prime members can access Prime Day deals so it's only relevant to brands that are signed up to Fulfillment By Amazon or Seller-Fulfilled Prime.
Brands must be prepared for this event to ensure they don't miss the wealth of opportunity it presents. Here's what you need to do to get ready for Prime Day.
Prime Day is Amazon's biggest sale of the year. Available to Prime members only it can be likened to a summer version of Black Friday. The first Prime Day took place on July 15th 2015 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the company by its chief executive Jeff Bezos.
Since Amazon Prime Day launched the sale has grown more popular year after year. Even in 2020 when consumer activity generally fell Prime Day still attracted record-breaking sales.
This is partly thanks to Amazon's growing Prime membership which recently reached a massive 200 million members worldwide. In the US alone there's 147 million Prime subscribers.
Last year the two-day sale put a lot of focus on small businesses and top-selling products included many everyday household items.
According to Amazon's stats diapers were in-demand in France. In the US thousands of people bought card games for lockdown entertainment. In Germany and Austria coffee beans proved to be the biggest hit of the event. And in the UK a Shark vacuum cleaner sucked up the most sales.
This year as vaccination programmes progress we expect to see more interest in products related to socialising and summer holidays. Strong demand for consumer electronics apparel and media will also continue. (If you sell electronics check out our data on Amazon Prime Day trends for the sector).
On Prime Day consumers can expect deals on thousands of products both Amazon brand and non-Amazon brand across every category from voice-controlled devices to jewelry and more.
Prime Day has been found to attract growing numbers of back-to-school shoppers. A recent study by RetailMeNot discovered that 84% of US retailers believe the back-to-school shopping season begins before or on Amazon Prime Day. And of the parents of school-aged children RetailMeNot interviewed for the study it found that 91% of those who plan to shop on Prime Day will use the day to make a back-to-school purchase.
Data from Amazon Prime Day 2020 tells us that brands experienced a 23% increase in traffic as well as an incredible 173% increase in sales.
This means conversion rates are high and consumers are ready to buy. But lots of other brands and third-party sellers are vying for sales too. To make sure you land your share of the windfall here are six ways to get ready for Prime Day in advance.
Be sure to increase stock levels on items you anticipate will sell well on Prime Day as selling out early means losing the buy box and reducing brand visibility at a really crucial time. There's also the negative publicity this can attract. During the inaugural Prime Day of 2015 Amazon stocked out of a huge amount of popular products resulting in lots of unhappy customers and the hashtag #PrimeDayFail. With the massive influx of shoppers to Amazon on the day you want to ensure your brand is in the spotlight for the right reasons a #PrimeDaySuccess if you will.
Ensure the content on your product listing pages is optimized for conversions. This includes images product titles bullet points product descriptions and back end search terms. For brands that are members of the Amazon Brand Registry perfecting product descriptions is particularly important. Members have complete control of their descriptions and this provides them with a unique advantage over other sellers.
Brands can add Amazon A+ Content to tell the story of their products in an appealing way. As well as writing basic information and specs they can use different layouts images graphics and other visuals to showcase their wares. Products that aren't owned by members of the Brand Registry can only feature plain text in their descriptions.
A+ content improves conversion rates customer experience brand consistency and should provide a better return on ad spend too.
However it's important to remember your description needs to be about your product - not your Prime Day offer. If you mention discounts or deals that goes against Amazon's rules.
It's also worth noting that this perfected product description will be connected with the listings of any third-parties who sell your product on Amazon.
Why? Because a lot of Prime Day shoppers read ratings and reviews before making a Prime Day purchase 80% consider them important to their purchase decision and 45% will buy a product they've never heard of or used before based only on them.
Sales are all about deals and discounts. So as you get ready for Prime Day spend some time thinking about what kind of offers will appeal to your target audience.
Generally price cuts hold the most appeal for consumers. Since Prime members automatically get free shipping this isn't an option. Free gifts aren't allowed either. But bundle offers are another key sales tool.
Bundles allow you to create unique package deals which stand apart from what other sellers have to offer. This can increase savings and convenience for buyers while also encouraging multiple purchases.
Members of the Amazon Brand Registry gain access to Amazon's virtual bundles. This allows them to build product packages of up to five ASINs. Just make sure all the products complement each other. This will encourage conversions and enhance the overall customer experience.
Because of the massive increase in demand a big part of how to prepare for Prime Day is making sure you have enough stock available. If you run out too soon you'll miss out on sales.
If your brand uses Fulfillment by Amazon you'll need to make sure your stock has arrived at its fulfillment centres before the following deadlines
� May 30th: India
� May 31st: The US and Canada
� June 1st: Australia
� June 6th: The UK Germany France Italy Spain the Netherlands and Turkey
� June 7th: UAE and Saudi Arabia
� June 13th: Japan
If your brand operates under Seller-Fulfilled Prime be sure to connect with internal logistics teams and other relevant departments so you can avoid stockouts during the two-day sale.
Prime Day Lightning Deals are product discounts which are available for just a few hours at a time.
These types of flash sales create urgency among shoppers and can really increase conversions for your brand. They also appear on Amazon's dedicated deal page which will increase visibility as well as sales.
You can run a lightning deal promotion at any time but they're particularly popular on Prime Day. Although they're more expensive to run at this time.
This year's deadline for Prime Day Lightning Deals is April 16th for the US and Canadian marketplaces and April 23rd for all the others.)
However you don't need to run a lightning deal to enjoy a Prime Day success. Regardless there will be a huge increase in the number of shoppers browsing Amazon during those two days in June. So you'll have plenty of opportunities to generate more sales.
On Prime Day it's better to bid aggressively rather than miss out on sales and to bid on your own branded items to block competitors from controlling them.
Once you've perfected your product listings you should start running sponsored product ads and brand ads on Amazon as the demand will shoot up during the 48-hour sale and so will the cost-per-click of each ad. So get ready for Prime Day by running some ads in the lead up to the sale when the most avid shoppers are planning their picks in advance.
Of course you should run some ads on Prime Day too. But with ad costs going up and deep discounts bringing down the return on each sale you should carefully adjust your maximum bids beforehand. Take care to monitor your advertising budgets throughout Prime Day to make sure they don't run out as a result of increased bids and clicks. Also be sure to test all your ad copy early so that everything is in order in good time.
During Prime Day the cost of paid advertising usually spikes. So it makes sense to use other marketing channels to drive traffic to your Amazon deals too.
Use your social media channels and website to highlight and drive traffic towards Prime Day deals on Amazon. Email generally offers a great return on investment and on Prime Day can provide a great opportunity to re-engage prospects. The discounts available may provide the final push people need to convert.
While Prime Day encourages impulse buys many shoppers also check to see if specific products are on sale. So help these shoppers find your products on Amazon by linking directly to the marketplace from your main website. ChannelSight's Where to Buy solution is a quick and easy way of doing so and is beneficial to consumer brand and retailer.
The consumer has a far swifter and more seamless path to purchase. The brand is less likely to lose sales as a result of potential customers going off-site to research where they might buy products and succumbing to the likes of competitive distraction. And the retailers see increased levels of high-converting traffic. Win win win. It will even display price updates and current stock information.
Not only will driving external traffic to your Amazon Prime Day deals help increase sales but it should also help your listings rank higher in Amazon's search results.
If you haven't already review your past Prime Day data and use the insights obtained to optimise your activities around the event. ChannelSight customers have instant and easy access to third party retailer data any time from anywhere via our customizable dashboards yet another powerful feature of our Where to Buy technology.
Consumers are already buzzing about Amazon Prime Day so brands should get ready too.
As anticipation increases and Amazon ramps up its promotional campaign brands across the site are sure to benefit from the traffic it generates. So make sure your business is prepared at every level and takes advantage of the unique opportunities available to brands. If your products come with a competitive price tag your trusted brand name is sure to seal the deal.
To learn more about how your brand can increase conversion rates and access dynamite data 365 days a year and not just on Prime Day contact our team today!
