Update: This post has been amended to reflect the confirmed dates of Prime Day, October 13 – 14 2020.
Despite the challenges retailers are facing with COVID-19, Amazon Prime Day 2020 is still coming up! For those unfamiliar, Amazon Prime Day is the equivalent to Black Friday or Cyber Monday for Amazon. It’s when sellers offer up their best deals in the Amazon Marketplace. Right now, there are over 110,000,000 Americans using Amazon Prime. Amazon sold $7.16 Billion worth of goods on Prime Day in 2019, up from $4.19 billion in 2018. If you’re selling on Amazon, you don’t want to miss this opportunity. Here is everything you need to know – including 9 tips to achieve success on Amazon Prime day.
When is it?
The first question that needs to be addressed is – When exactly is Prime Day? Normally, Prime Day is in the middle of July but because of COVID-19 they have pushed back the date. As of September 28th, 2020 Amazon has finally confirmed Prime Day 2020 will be a two day event that takes place on October 13th and 14th.
Last year, it was a 48-hour event, so how long will Prime Day 2020 last? It is unclear how long the sale will go on at this time, but we are projecting another 2-day event based on what we’re hearing across the industry. However, the sales opportunity goes far beyond that. Sellers should look at Amazon Prime Day as a week-long event – the traffic will be increased, so it’s just up to you to take advantage of it.
How do I participate?
Well, for one, you must be a seller on Amazon. You can be seller fulfilled, fulfilled by Amazon, or vendor fulfilled – anyone selling on Amazon can participate. Now, selling products on Amazon does not mean you are automatically involved in Prime Day.
To participate, you need to play the game. Sellers will choose from 4 options:
- Offer Coupons
- Add a Sale Price
- Run a Promotion
- Offer Free Shipping
All these options are available to all Amazon sellers in their Amazon dashboard. You can set the dates of your deals around the day itself, days before, or days after the event. You can have multiple deals at once, and we’d suggest doing so.
What if I’m a Prime Seller?
Prime sellers have additional leverage on Prime Day. With access to unique discounts and offers, Prime sellers are given an advantage above all non-Prime sellers. This year, Amazon will be holding 3 key event dates for Prime Sellers to participate in:
Criteria to participate:
- Must be a Prime Exclusive offer (FBA or SFP)
- Must offer 20% or greater discount
- Must have a star rating greater than or equal to 3.5, or no customer reviews
In addition to these coupon opportunities, you can also run Prime Exclusive Discounts, and Lightning Deals. Contact Amazon@eAccountable.com if you’re interested in running these promotions. We can tell you what you’re eligible for and what’s the best strategy to maximize success.
9 Additional Tips to Achieve Success on Prime Day
- Inventory, Inventory, Inventory
Nothing can happen if you run out of inventory. Sales momentum, paid ads, coupons – they all stop with no inventory. Ensure you have MORE than enough inventory available to last through Prime Day. There are those who think having less inventory creates a sense of urgency. True or not, this isn’t how Amazon operates. Amazon’s A10 Algorithm puts a heavy weight on in-stock inventory. Running low or becoming OOS will hurt your visibility on Amazon and allow competitors to take your position.- For FBA sellers: Ship in your products 1-month before to ensure it gets there on-time. We recommend having a minimum of 2-month supply of inventory at Amazon before Prime Day starts.
- For FBM sellers: Reallocate inventory from website and other marketplaces as needed. Ensure you ALWAYS have inventory about 20 units in your Managed Inventory.
- Leverage Amazon Creative Content
More than ever before, Amazon is making a concentrated effort to empower brands with the creative tools and features they need to establish their brand equity and promote shopper loyalty. Amazon currently offers a multitude of branding features and not only do these creative features help to improve the aesthetics of brands on the Marketplace – they also provide new opportunities to drive traffic to a brand’s entire catalog and increase detail page conversion rates:- Amazon Stores
- A+ Content
- Enhanced Brand Content
- Increase Your Bids
On Amazon Prime Day, Sellers should increase their advertising budgets, specifically for Sponsored Products & Amazon Marketing Services. Expect to increase your bids by (at least) +50%. Focus on your top converting/sales driving keywords Everyone and anyone will be looking to advertise their products leading up to Prime Day and you don’t want to miss out on valuable traffic. Remember, on Prime Day it’s better for advertisers to bid aggressively rather than miss out on sales completely. - Consistently Monitor Budget
Because bids and clicks are expected to rise, budgets will run out very quickly. Sellers should closely monitor their budgets throughout the day to make sure no advertising campaigns run out of money. Advertisers can check their Sponsored Products account level budget caps located within the Advertising tab> Campaign Manager > Settings. - Test Ad Copy (Early!)
Nothing is worse than finding out your ad is disapproved right before Amazon Prime Day. Starting now, advertisers should be testing their Prime Day ad copy that has the highest CTR and sales for Sponsored Brand Ads and Sponsored Display Ads. - Put Out Fires Quickly
Advertisers should identify fast-moving products and address issues the day of. According to Joe Selzer, it will be imperative for Sellers to keep a watchful eye on their account(s), identifying and responding to any issues or opportunities as quickly as possible. “With so many shoppers flooding the Marketplace looking to ‘buy now’, anything hindering a Seller’s ability to make their products both discoverable and buyable can spell big trouble in terms of lost sales.” - Amazon Prime Day Aftermath
Many Sellers will be increasing budgets and bids for Prime Day, but the rate at which they reverse those changes back to normal will vary widely. Sellers should also prepare for any operational aftermath including more returns to process, increase in customer questions, and more opportunity for FBA refunds. We expect a gradual return of advertising budgets & bids to “normal”. - Delays in Sales Data
If you’re not seeing the sales data you expected – don’t jump to conclusions. According to our experts, AMS (Amazon Marketing Services) reports could take several days to become available. - Use Outside Marketing Channels
It’s recommended to run ads from Facebook, Google, etc. towards Amazon during Prime Day. Consumers are expecting the best deals will be on Amazon, so sending them there can help improve Amazon conversion rate and your sales rank, getting you increased visibility during Prime Day 2020.
Final Thoughts
Amazon Prime Day was huge last year and will be even bigger this year. The sale period will last longer, more people are using Amazon Prime than ever before, and the marketplace is as competitive as it’s ever been. It’s a major opportunity and you need to plan ahead. Come up with your strategy now and make sure all your ads, store pages, product features, search terms, and everything else is good to go.
Last year, the average increase in sales was 3x. Those who take full advantage of all the opportunities saw much, much greater than a 3x increase. Let’s get on it! If you’re feeling overwhelmed, stuck on anything, or are simply looking for advice, please feel free to drop us a line here. You can also connect with us on LinkedIn, reach out to Amazon@eAccountable.com, or give us a call at 866-209-0669.
Let’s have a great Amazon Prime Day!