Amazon finally announced Prime Day on July 11 and 12, 2023. The most exciting part of the announcement – the launch of an invite list, which customers must request access to – to access deals that will likely sell out.
We still see brands that are hesitant to sell on Amazon. We also see brands more hesitant about Prime Day due to margin squeezing.
Vendors must understand what Prime Day is and is not. Amazon has created a two-day event to sell branded devices, offer exclusive promotions to Prime members, and sell advertising. Notice what is not mentioned – profitability and margins.
There is no secret sauce or quick road to success on Prime Day. Prime Day planning should start the day after the event for the following year’s event or when Amazon announces an event for October.
The 2023 Innovation – Moving Away From Amazon
Is Amazon using Prime Day as the first opportunity for brands to drive traffic off of Amazon to other domains?
Or is this another case of Amazon adding additional value to the Buy with Prime program by leveraging Prime Day to promote products not on Amazon’s marketplace?
Prime Day Tactics For Success
Brands and vendors ensure you are marketing products with profit margins. Are these ASINs available for both event days?
Vendors ensure that you have inventory planned to be moved to Amazon warehouses. Vendors likely will see slim margins if they have not negotiated promotions for products with positive margins.
What is the one thing Amazon vendors want but get relatively little coverage? Net income and net revenues. Net revenues have a variety of Amazon acronyms, but do vendors know what this means?
How To Validate Whether Prime Day Was Successful
- If it’s profitable and with margin – fantastic work done by your team.
- If it’s remotely profitable with lower margins – your Amazon team has done better than most vendors.
- If it is not profitable and with no margins – Amazon has won, and your team needs assistance.
It is about making net margins and profit daily, monthly, and annually.
Post Prime Day Activities To Aid Festive Season Goals
Brands and vendors, what did you learn from Prime Day 2023 from day one data? Did you have ASINs run out of stock, or did your advertising budget get blown into a million pieces? Did your advertising campaigns perform as you expected or not?
Every year, Prime Day is when brands and vendors learn how customers perceive your brand, how your team performed during the event, and what analytics are needed to move the needle.
A debrief/report of what happened that contains data review, learnings, and challenges faced. What worked or did not generate sales or revenues as expected?
Use the data provided by Amazon and from solution partners to create a picture of what happened over the 48 hours of Prime Day. Many brands do not use Prime Day as a dress rehearsal for Q4.