Prime Day is coming. Is your business ready?
By now, nearly everyone is familiar with (or has at least heard of) Prime Day, Amazon’s two-day sales event that takes place annually to offer excellent deals across the online retailer’s major shopping categories.
Here’s why Prime Day is a big event that you won’t want to miss out on strategising for:
It’s one of Amazon’s biggest shopping days of the year, and it’s incredibly popular with consumers around the world.
People look forward to Prime Day to snag great deals and offers on their favourite products – anything from big-ticket times like barbeque grills to everyday essentials like body wash and perfume is offered at special discounts for Amazon Prime members.
This year, Prime Day is back on its original month of July running over two confirmed dates – Tuesday 12th & Wednesday 13th. Typically, Prime Day was always held in July since its inception in 2015, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, it was moved to October, and then subsequently took place in June the following year. However, for this year, the 12th & 13th July are the dates you want to save in your calendar with possible rumours of a 2nd ‘Prime Fall’ event taking place later in the year.
Alongside the great news about Prime Day returning to its originally scheduled time, the fact is that things will be a bit different this year. With looming inflation on the horizon, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and lockdowns in China affecting global supply chains, sellers should expect changes in consumer habits and availability of sourcing.
Here’s what we expect to be different this year and how your business can prepare.
Prime Day 2022 – What’s Changed
The past two years have seen a boom in online shopping. In fact, the sheer number of people shopping online from 2020 through to 2022 has accelerated the growth of ecommerce and made it a more popular way of shopping, even for everyday items.
Although brick and mortar stores have now reopened and consumer confidence for in-person shopping is on the rise, the convenience that consumers have got used to with online shopping isn’t going away anytime soon.
There are more options available than ever before for product availability and fast shipping, so much so, that consumers won’t be fully returning to pre-pandemic shopping habits anytime soon. This is great news for both ecommerce sellers and shoppers who enjoy the convenience of shopping online! That said, there are some things that will be changing with regards to online shopping this year.
Money conscious consumers
Many consumers are seeing the tumult of the past two years hit them where it hurts the most – in the wallet. With financial concerns on the rise following changes in income, job loss, increased energy, petrol and food prices, as well as economic uncertainty looming on the horizon, many people are looking to save where they can.
As a result, consumers are reducing their overall spending and sticking more carefully to household budgets. That means less disposable income to spend on more frivolous purchases.
For Amazon sellers, this can impact how you set your deals on Prime Day. It means sellers must be conscious of lower consumer budgets, as well as a rise in the need to purchase more practical items (versus ‘treat’ items) at better prices.
Spending on the decline
Given all of the economic issues mentioned above, people are simply spending less. And when they do spend, they are more judicious about what they purchase. This means less impulse buying.
Trends show consumers opting to be more purposeful about saving money to purchase one-off, big-ticket items such as holidays or stereo/entertainment equipment, for example. It is likely that people will be anticipating Prime Day as a chance to get great deals on the big-ticket items they’ve been saving up for.
Convenience shopping is up
During the pandemic, people became more aware of the fact that you can buy many everyday, ordinary household items on Amazon, such as soap and shampoo.
They realised that Amazon isn’t just for buying bigger or more uncommon items – it can fulfil the role of the bog-standard supermarket or corner shop too!
Therefore, fast delivery (which Amazon excels at) on everyday items has become more commonplace. What does this mean for your store during Prime Day? It means that Prime Day deals needn’t be limited to items like TVs, video game consoles and watches – it pays to bundle deals of household goods and ‘boring’ items too.
Popular categories have changed
In the past two years, it was no surprise that sales in categories such as athleisure and activewear were up, owing to many people working from home. However, trends are showing that these categories are remaining strong even as people go back to the office.
The trends seen in fashion – the rise of athleisure and activewear – are just two examples of pandemic-driven behaviours that aren’t going anywhere (yet, at least). The books and games that people enjoyed whilst staying at home have also remained popular selling categories, for example.
As an Amazon seller, it’s important to be aware of various trends to ensure that you continue to deliver within the categories that are most popular with consumers.
More values-led consumption
Political uncertainty around the world, such as the war in Ukraine, has brought compassion to the forefront, highlighting the everyday person’s ability to help others in time of need.
Items that support Ukrainian victims of war, or sellers who make a donation to charity with every purchase, are more popular amongst consumers looking to not only save but also help in small ways where they can.
The AmazonSmile charity programme is great for this, and sellers can also tap into purpose-led sales by carrying items that directly benefit victims – such as products made by Ukrainians or which show support by donating a portion of sales to a charitable cause.
Amazon Sellers: How to Gear Up for Prime Day 2022
Given these changes, it’s clear that Prime Day shopping habits may look a bit different this year. For Amazon sellers, that’s why it’s important to take a considered, strategic approach to getting your business running at its best for this important shopping day.
After all, you want to wow your potential customers and make the most of one of the busiest shopping days outside of the festive season.
Here are a few steps you can take to optimise and ramp up your Amazon store for Prime Day 2022.
Create different types of offers to suit each customer
Everyone loves a deal but the truth is that not all shoppers are exactly the same! Some people prefer to save a percentage amount of their total purchase, whereas others love bundle deals that give them bang for their buck.
Some ways that you can use different types of offers to please all types of customers include:
- Take advantage of ‘Lightning Deals’
Also known by marketers as a ‘flash sale’, Lightning Deals are where you offer special deals for a very limited amount of time. Let your customers know that if they shop with you between certain hours of the day, they can take advantage of special, time-limited deals that you won’t offer outside of those hours.
Lightning Deals show up on Amazon’s Prime Day page, so by participating, you become more visible in front of a larger number of customers browsing the website looking for deals.
While Amazon will charge you for offering Lightning Deals, the spend can be outweighed by the huge amount of savings you stand to gain.
- Leverage promotions
Promotions have been around for ages; they’re not exactly innovative. So why are we including them on this list, you might ask? Because they WORK! People shop Amazon’s Prime Day for one main reason: because they want to save money. Promotions such as “buy one, get one free” or “buy one, get the second 50% off” are great because they incentivise customers to spend more, while still offering them great savings. For customers watching their wallets, this can be a great opportunity to stock up on all the things they need at the best prices around.
- Use Amazon Vouchers
Amazon Vouchers (or Coupons) create a bright green tag next to the list price of your item on the product detail page. It’s the easiest way to show customers that you’re offering Prime Day discounts.
Just be sure to remember to apply – it’s simple to do and Amazon outlines the process here.
- Be smart with your list price
Prices are frequently in flux on Prime Day, as all sellers want to out-do each other with the best deals. You can, of course, change your prices manually. But if you want to kick things up to the next level, repricing software can help monitor competitors to ensure that your prices are meeting the industry standards without compromising your profit margin.
Have your FBA inventory ready to go
If you hold your inventory with Amazon using their popular and convenient FBA programme, be sure that all of your inventory is in on time for Prime Day. You don’t want to get caught out by running out of inventory to ship!
Amazon has released its FBA cut-off dates for 2022 and the cut-off date for Prime Day has been announced by Amazon 20th June 2022.
This also might give us a bit of a hint as to when Prime Day will occur this year, since Prime Day typically takes place no more than four weeks after its FBA cut-off date.
Make your listings stand out
Writing a good listing takes some investment. You need to understand how to maximise the potential of each field, including the title, body text, item description, bullet points and photos.
There will be many eyes on Prime Day products, so you want to make sure your listing stands out. Optimising your listings ahead of Prime Day is a great way to prepare for this important shopping day, making sure that you increase your odds of making a sale as much as possible.
Here are some top tips all about writing Amazon product titles that can help.
Invest in the right marketing strategy
It’s not all about what you do on the day! Prime Day takes some advance preparation if you want to really make a splash with your customers.
One way of doing that is by building your brand ahead of Prime Day using marketing and advertising techniques to get your business in front of your customers, letting them know all about the great deals you plan to unveil for Prime Day.
Here are some marketing tactics that can be helpful ahead of Prime Day:
- Deploy digital advertising outside of Amazon
Although your customers shop for your products on Amazon, you can get your brand in front of them in other places online through paid advertising. Using Facebook and Google ads that shout about your Prime Day deals can help drive traffic to your Amazon store.
- Turn to social media
Social media can be a great way to advertise your upcoming Prime Day deals using a bit of creativity. Platforms like Instagram Reels or TikTok lend themselves well to making engaging videos that can make people smile while letting them know about the deals you’re offering in your Amazon store for Prime Day.
- Update your PPC advertising strategy
When it comes to pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on search engines, it’s good to refresh your bidding strategy every once in a while, but especially as Prime Day approaches. Increasing your bids on your most popular keywords can be useful in capturing more people searching for those items around Prime Day. You can also look at running sponsored display ads on Amazon.
- Don’t neglect reviews!
Amazon sellers all know the importance of reviews – the number of positive reviews you have on Amazon increases the likelihood of your products coming up as recommended. It also earns trust with would-be buyers weighing up whether to make a purchase.
In the run-up to Prime Day, you want to make sure you’ve got lots of reviews and that they are majority positive. You can ramp up the number of reviews you receive by automating review request emails following each sale you make. Doing this a few months (or even weeks) ahead of Prime Day will increase your store’s review amounts and can lead to better sales on Prime Day.
Prime Day and Arbitrage versus Private Label
What type of Amazon seller are you?
If you’re a private label seller, your most important consideration on Prime Day will be inventory. Be sure your stock is replenished and ready to meet demand. With all the supply chain issues occurring around the world today, private label sellers may also wish to find more local suppliers. If you’re in the UK that might mean switching up suppliers who are also in the UK or nearby continental Europe, as opposed to sourcing from China.
But if, on the other hand, you’re an arbitrage seller, then Prime Day is a great opportunity to look through your existing stock and think about ways in which you can price stagnant stock to move it quicker.
The high-volume sales that occur on Prime Day are a great way to sell products that haven’t sold as well in the past.
Prime Day is also a good opportunity for arbitrage sellers to research and source new products from new suppliers in preparation for the big day.
Back to Basics for Prime Day in 2022
Prime Day is poised to be a great day for sellers and shoppers alike in 2022. Back to our normally scheduled season, the return of Prime Day to the summer ushers in a sense of normality for shoppers and helps them find what they need for the months ahead – at excellent prices.
Although a lot has changed on Amazon since the first Prime Day in 2015, all of it has been for the better. Today, there are more products available on Amazon than ever before, and more innovative digital ways of advertising them and getting in front of consumers.
Prime Day promises to bring the best of online shopping to consumers around the world. Amazon sellers who have done their homework and are prepared for the big day have lots to gain. We hope you find these steps useful for achieving your most profitable Prime Day yet!
