5 Tips to Prepare for Amazon Prime Day

Amazon Prime Day is such a big event that it can be mistaken for a national holiday. It isn’t. However, it must be a significant event for Amazon to hold it every year. The big box giant of e-commerce has taken their growth to a whole new level. This day has become a strategy for Amazon to show appreciation to their members from all over the world and attract millions of new customers in return.

For merchants who are totally new on Amazon and know nothing about this event, this article will serve as your guide. The primary details of the event will be revealed here. Also, we are going to give you tips on how you can take advantage of the deals in the best way possible.

History, Details, and Statistics

Back in 2015, Amazon celebrated their 20th year anniversary by giving their customers a big day of deals and discounts. The products on sale included merchant and Amazon products and services. Amazon sales for that day alone reached nearly $1 Billion. The results were so outstanding that they decided to do it every year.

Sounds like a Black Friday sale in the summer, doesn’t it? Close, but it’s not. Not everyone is entitled to these deals. Only customers with Amazon Prime Membership can participate. Furthermore, the deals are limited to selected countries.

This year, Amazon Prime Day falls on a Monday. As if 24 hours is not enough to shop all you want, Amazon has extended the event to 36 hours. Furthermore, they have invited more countries to participate. Amazon Prime Day 2018 officially kicks off today, July 16, 2018, at 3:00 PM. Prime members can shop on Amazon.com, the Amazon mobile app, Alexa, and Whole Foods Market stores (for exclusive in-store deals.)

2017 Prime Day Stats

Just last year, Amazon hit their biggest sales mark yet with an estimated sales total of $ 2.41B. That is billions of U.S. dollars in revenue within a single day alone. Since their launch in 2015, their figures have presented a whopping 60% increase in growth sales year after year. Here’s a quick recap of the happenings from 2017’s Prime Day.

Prime Day is just too big to fit in one full day.

• Last July 11, 2017, Amazon extended their one day run from 24 to 30 hours. Members from 13 prime-eligible countries were able to participate in the event.

An influx of new Amazon Prime Members.

• Since it is an exclusive event for Amazon customers with Prime Membership, many shoppers signed up for the $99/year subscription before and during Prime Day. Statistics revealed that Prime Day 2017 registered the most number of new Prime members ever.
• As a result, tens of millions of Amazon Prime Members participated, leading to a 50% increase of prime purchases as compared to the previous year.

Amazon on web and mobile.

• The 2017 Amazon Prime Day recorded a double increase in the number of orders placed on the mobile application from the previous year. Although some technical glitches were observed in both the Amazon web and mobile channels, Amazon was smart enough not to overlook them.
• It was expected that more and more shoppers will use the mobile app this next Prime Day, along with their Alexa Voice Service.

Echo Dot wins the crowd.

• Echo Dot was last year’s Prime Day best seller. With the future of voice-controlled gadgets looking brighter than ever, Amazon took advantage of developing voice-assisted Echo devices with Alexa.

Here’s a list from Quartz.com on Amazon’s Prime Day 2017 Best Sellers per country.

The shoppers are happy, the merchants are happy, everybody is happy.

• Amazon merchants have to sacrifice big margins to be able to participate in the annual Prime Day event. In return, Amazon rewards them with a huge number of sales. Last year, sellers saw a leap of over 1000% in their daily average sales on the Prime Day. According to the merchants, the shopping event is not only a way to boost their sales but also their brand awareness.

What to Expect This Year

Amazon released a press statement on their website regarding this year’s Amazon Prime Day. Prime Members from across the globe are given 36 hours (Prime day and a half) to shop for millions of deals and discounts.

They have added these countries to the list of participating marketplaces:

• Australia
• Singapore
• Netherlands, and
• Luxembourg

40 more in-house brands will showcase new products and worldwide deals across these top categories:

• TVs
• Smart home
• Kitchen
• Grocery
• Toys
• Fashion
• Furniture
• Appliances
• School supplies
• Everyday essentials

Since Alexa-enabled products seem to be popular with Amazon customers, Prime Day 2018 will feature the biggest deals yet on Echo, Fire TV, Fire Tablets, and Echo devices with screens.

Apart from extending Prime Day hours and increasing the deals, Amazon will make some deals available before and after the 36 hours. Selected deals will be available for members as early as a week before and others a week after the event.

Of course, double the deals means double the sales and double the fun! This year’s event is expected to beat all records since their best performance yet last 2017.

What does this mean for merchants?

All Amazon third-party vendors and sellers participate in this annual event. Amazon gives them a shot to build customer acquisition through an extended 36-hour sale. Here are the benefits Amazon Prime Day brings for merchants:

Generate Brand Awareness – Based on statistics, many new customers sign up for Amazon Prime on this day every year. These are potential customers who will try your brand for the first time. Coupled with the premium perks given on this day, there’s a great chance that they will buy your products again in the future.

Increase Sales & Unload Inventory – Millions of purchases from all over the world happen on Prime Day. Sellers use attractive deals as a chance to boost their sales and move their inventory.

Launch New Products – Prime day is the perfect stage for merchants to showcase new products. They don’t necessarily have to be on sale; just a chance for customers to see what brands offer. It may convert into sales in the future.

Tips for the Big Day

The most anticipated event this summer is happening today. The biggest sales day for Amazon sellers is also an opportunity to get your brand in front of new customers. But with millions of competitors, how do you win in this event? Here are some of the best seller/vendor practices you can follow for Amazon Prime Day 2018.

1. Create a strong pricing strategy

Reevaluate the prices of your most popular items. Create a pricing strategy that will vary throughout the duration of the event and a week or two after Prime Day. The competition is strong out there and pricing is the key. Even if you are not participating in the official Prime Day deals, you can still win in sales if your items are priced competitively.

2. Optimize your listings

It’s a matter of what the customers see first. In order to create a great listing, you have to use keywords that will allow buyers to find your product first. Leveraging your creative content will also drive traffic to your store. Use Prime Day to optimize your best sellers because they are the ones likely to attract more sales. Optimize your listings and descriptions with better keywords, bullet descriptions, and headlines, as well as photos.

3. Increase your bids

Nobody wants to miss out on precious traffic. Sellers are expected to have advertised their products as early as 2 weeks before the event. According to Amazon Marketing statistics, product search volumes are elevated on the days leading up to the Prime Day. Ad impressions increase from 50 to 100 percent on the day itself. Focus on optimizing your ad content with sales-driving keywords. Test them out early instead of scrambling at the last minute.

4. Monitor your budget

The saying is true that it is better to be bold than to miss out completely on sales. Expect your budget to increase and focus on running ad campaigns. On the days leading up to the big day, advertising costs are expected to rise. You have to make sure that you have enough budget to cover your business from before, during, and after the Prime Day.

5. Hire freelancers experienced with Amazon to help you out

It is one thing to prepare for Amazon Prime Day and another to survive the day itself. With the boost in sales volumes, there will be countless orders to process, ship, and track. Customer queries will flood your emails. Your inventory will need to be updated before and after the event. 

One of the best practices merchant strategists recommend is to hire freelancers who specialize in Amazon tasks. You can only do so much for your business. Many tasks may not even be your area of expertise. And with this big of an event coming up, you don’t want to risk the chance of doing everything on your own.

Platforms like FreeUp specialize in providing services for e-commerce businesses. Freelancers undergo a strict application process before joining the network. They are pre-vetted based on skill set and experience. If you hire one of these freelancers for your Amazon store, you can maximize your time for planning, budgeting, and rolling out strategies for Amazon Prime Day.

Conclusion

Amazon Prime Day has become one of the biggest shopping days of the year, competing with the Black Friday and Cyber Monday. As a merchant, you should aim to create a customized and favorable shopping experience for Amazon’s Prime members. Establish a strong sales strategy, get introduced to an Amazon expert via FreeeUp, build on lead-up and lead-out activities, and crush it on Prime Day 2018.

Lailah Paredes is an engineering student, creative entrepreneur, and a self-confessed island girl. As a travel junkie, she loves experiencing different cultures and sharing them through her writing. Read about her travels across the beautiful islands of the Philippines at her blog laieatsandtravels.tumblr.com.