Over the summer, Amazon announced that they would be delaying their annual Prime Day until a later date, with a now tentative rescheduling date of early October.
DigitalCommerce360 found that over 100 million products were sold on Prime Day in 2018. Prime Day in 2018 made Amazon’s sales larger than both Black Friday and Cyber Monday of that year. In 2019, Amazon’s Prime Day boosted online sales across America, especially as Amazon’s competitors started their own version of an online sales event. This year even, Walmart is officially launching their own membership program, Walmart+.
Historically, the two-day event in July kicked off the back-to-school season and provided valuable consumer insights in time for the holiday shopping season. Prime Day’s placement in July encouraged summertime splurges, helping participants acquire new customers, promote brand awareness, and get a sales boost. The buzz around Prime Day this year should continue to encourage consumers to shop online, increasing their familiarity with online services even more in time for the holidays.
Given Amazon’s importance as a market mover, NetElixir believes that they will try to kick-start the holiday shopping season with their delayed Prime Day. An extended holiday shopping season will ensure customers find a good deal and have enough time to ensure deliveries.
Statista found that the most popular product category in 2019 was electronics, followed closely by clothing, shoes, and accessories; while the coronavirus pandemic will most likely shift the popularity of different categories, it is no secret that consumers are flocking to Amazon for ease of navigation and finding necessary products. Good deals could boost sales in retail categories that have been struggling throughout the pandemic. Amazon has quickly become the “shopper’s search engine,” a market retailers can no longer afford to ignore.
Amazon Best Practices
With Amazon Prime membership at over 112 million people and continually climbing, retailers have a tremendous opportunity to turn their Amazon marketplace presence into a reliable channel. The coronavirus pandemic accelerated the adoption of Prime memberships, especially during the weeks of March 16 and 23, reports Forbes.
Prime Day is a great way to get noticed and gain market share among consumers. Deals will drive the initial discovery, but your brand’s value and service will get customers to stay throughout the holiday season.
Amazon is an excellent testing ground of new products and campaign performance, as it garners user reviews and feedback that can be used for your main website and e-commerce channel. By learning what customers are shopping and searching for now – and who these customers are – marketers will be better prepared to give customers exactly what they want.
Anticipating sales and interacting with new brands will get customers prepped for the holiday season, while jumpstarting retailer’s advertising initiatives.
Sustaining growth and product ranking is different on Amazon than it is on Google and Bing, as Amazon’s new A10 algorithm places more weight on indirect factors such as relevance to shopper’s search inquiry, prior customer behavior, and product rating off Amazon.
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