Authored by Amazon Prime Day has become a global shopping event; effectively its own “Black Friday” for Prime Members, and is likely to be one of the biggest sales days of the year for most Amazon sellers. Last year, Prime Day brought in nearly $11 billion in total ecommerce sales, making it the biggest day for digital sales in 2021 — and Prime Day 2022, could be even bigger.
This year, Prime day will be held on the 12th & 13th July and is a crucial time to for retailers to be visible to new customers in the competitive ecommerce market. Prime Day might be an Amazon invention, but retailers of all shapes and sizes have seen success from this seasonal shopping event. For some retailers, this means integrating their strategy to work in harmony with Amazon’s. For the rest of the UK’s largest retailers like John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Asos and Boots, this means going head-to-head with the retail giant. So how do retailers need to prepare for Prime Day 2022?
While the ecommerce landscape looks different this year than any before, we can still expect Prime Day 2022 to be a big event for Prime members and Amazon sellers alike. Here are some of our key considerations when it comes to preparing for Prime Day.
Convert with content by refreshing product listings.
While the ecommerce landscape looks different this year than any before, we can still expect Prime Day 2022 to be a big event for Prime members and Amazon sellers alike.Prime Day attracts shoppers in droves so to stand out, it’s crucial for retailers to have the best product representation via sharp product images and sales copy, both on Amazon and direct-to-consumer (DTC) pages.
For any retailers concerned about channel conflict and losing margins to their own optimized Amazon product listing, it’s always helpful to consider that 55% of customers plan to shop around on Prime Day.
Check your inventory levels and historical performance.
Make sure you have enough inventory for your promoted products and best sellers. You can generally expect Black Friday and Cyber Monday numbers to fall in line with Prime Day, so if you have data from those sales events, use it to determine your inventory strategy for Prime Day.
Differentiate with deals.
One thing is for certain; consumers are on the hunt for deals on Prime Day. In past years, many products discounted by Amazon were available from other retailers for even less.
Trying to compete with Amazon’s speed and price on a regular basis isn’t always possible (or profitable), but that doesn’t mean sellers should sit on the sidelines. Those that can’t offer price reductions can remain competitive by waiving shipping fees or offering expedited shipping, every incentive can make a big difference. Paid media support is key when it comes to promoting any deals you are offering to drive awareness of changes to any typical prices and policies.
Leverage first-party data to avoid over-reliance on deals.
Deals play a key role during on Prime Day but avoid using them as a crutch. In fact, retailers have one advantage over Amazon when it comes to product knowledge; a wealth of first-party product data from your catalogue and deep knowledge of your products. Amazon might have a large variety, but it doesn’t carry the entirety of your product catalogue (if it carries their products at all).
Another advantage we can help you gain over Amazon is by understanding not just what consumers buy but how they interact with the entire product catalogue. We can use this information to develop unique bundles that include complimentary sets of products that consumers tend to purchase together. As a quick win, this bundling strategy can also help increase to increase the average order value.
What formats can you use to drive performance during Prime Day?
Prime Day offers various types of promotional formats to engage customers and to help shoppers discover new brands. Established formats range from limited-quantity event page lightning deals to coupons that can help you gain higher visibility in the search results page, as well as Prime Member Promotions that drive conversion at the point of sale.
“Amazon Live”, an interactive shoppable video service, has become an important Prime Day format in the US market. Since its inception in 2017, “Prime Day Live” is now an all-day event featuring live product demonstrations with celebrity and influencer curations and active chat discussions. Brands can now partner with influencers to amplify the visibility of their deals during Amazon’s biggest shopping event of the year.
Use Prime Day to get a head start on testing your seasonal commerce strategy.
Prime Day has proven that it can surpass Black Friday and Cyber Monday in terms of sales, so why not use this summer shopping event as a test run for your seasonal shopping readiness? Specifically, we can use it as an opportunity to test new campaign ideas or channels and to identify any areas for improvement before the Christmas shopping season arrives.
One of the best ways to learn post-Prime Day is pay attention to actions. Combing through the analytics and demographics from your Prime Day event and check to see if there was a noticeable increase in things such as new customers or new search terms. The goal is to identify any successes and failures and make the changes necessary (or mimic the actions that produced positive results for your brand) to facilitate future growth.
Why should you focus on Prime Day?
Prime Day promises increased visibility and sales for retailers, even if you are not an active seller on the platform. However, to make the most of the opportunity, it’s important to build a strong marketing strategy that goes beyond deep discounts and lays the framework to build customer loyalty in the future. At Reprise Commerce we offer support to brands who sell on Amazon, whether Seller Central or Vendor Central.
Want to learn more? Watch our on-demand Ecommerce webinar: How to win in eRetail Search.
Reprise’s Natalie Williams (eCommerce Client Partner) and Danny Blackburn (Content Director) show you how to overcome the challenges and out-perform your competitors on the digital shelf, through eye-catching content and a smart organic search strategy.
