Will Your Brand Win Amazon Prime Day?
…Even After It’s Over?
For the first time, Amazon Prime Day will be two days—July 15 and July 16—positioning itself to be the most profitable event in the company’s history. Prime Day started in 2015 to celebrate Amazon’s 20th birthday, and each year it continues to expand, increasing sales by huge percentages.
Rami Odeh
Digital Commerce Vice President
Rami helps brands grow their business in a complicated e-commerce landscape and better understand the intricacies of an ever-evolving ecosystem.
Throughout his career, he’s led product manufacturers and brands like OfficeMax/Office Depot and Sears todevelop and execute strategies to create significant,measurable returns. He specializes in e-commerce content, fulfilment, negotiation, and merchandising initiatives, helping clients to optimize their short and long-term planning.
This year alone, Prime Day will be Amazon’s longest, spanning a full 48 hours. It will offer the largest number of deals, over one million with hundreds of thousands coming from small and mid-size businesses according to Amazon. And 18 countries will be eligible to participate, delivering the greatest international exposure.
However, creating a two-day sales windfall is just the beginning for Amazon. Velocity Commerce Group (VCG) recognizes that by drawing shoppers into the Amazon ecosystem on Prime Day, the platform drives loyalty and sales over the long term.
For instance, Prime members shop more frequently and spend more money on Amazon than non-Prime members. So by luring in new members with Prime Day deals, Amazon can compound sales throughout the year. The average Amazon Prime member spends $1,300 per year on the online shopping platform versus $700 for non-Prime members, according to Statista.
Data also shows Amazon Echo owners shop more often and spend 10% more on Amazon than before they had the device. In turn, Amazon heavily discounts the Echo and Echo Dot on Prime Day to increase ongoing shopping on its site.
Amazon even uses Prime Day to strengthen Whole Foods loyalty among Prime members. From July 3-16, members who spend $10 at Whole Foods will get a $10 credit that can be used on Amazon on Prime Day. And, as always, members receive discounts on select Whole Foods products all year.
These strategies help Amazon steal market share from other retailers though stores can successfully piggy back onto Prime Day’s shopping frenzy. Best Buy and Target are offering their own Prime Day discounts while Ebay is hedging on an Amazon website crash. If the platform goes down during Prime Day (like it did in 2018), Ebay will offer deeper discounts called “Crash Deals” during that time in hopes of stealing sales. But this is only a knee-jerk tactic.
As e-commerce experts, VCG believes brands should take a page out of Amazon’s playbook by figuring out how to maximize Prime Day in both the short and long term. Initially, your brand may take a margin hit by funding Prime Day discounts, but by leveraging Amazon’s algorithm to bump up search results, you can increase page views, brand awareness and sales on Prime Day and beyond.
VCG has analyzed hundreds of Amazon SKUs in order to pinpoint which factors give clients optimum gains. Brands participating in Prime Day typically get a sales spike that lasts weeks after the event according to Profitero. But for ongoing momentum, VCG takes a multifaceted approach, reviewing our clients’ Amazon content strategy, marketing, inventory management and more. Only by appreciating Amazon’s many interrelated components will brands achieve lasting success.
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