It is official: Amazon Prime Day 2020 has finally been confirmed for 13th and 14th October.
Back in July, Amazon postponed the popular shopping event following the record-breaking demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic and a subsequent strain on its fulfilment system.
Now, after months of speculation and leaked dates, Amazon Selling Partners and customers have been assured that the event will take place this year.
From a seller’s point of view, Amazon Prime Day is synonymous with incredible selling and brand awareness opportunities and this year, this will be more so than ever.
In fact, the event’s newly confirmed date means that the holiday season will begin earlier than usual for sellers and consumers alike, and will provide a build up to the busiest shopping events of the last quarter, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
With only a few days to go, the time to get ready for the Prime Day and holiday long-haul is now. Today, we explore the importance of this shopping event for Amazon Sellers and look at some practical tips on how to maximise your profits and brand awareness during the event.
What is Amazon Prime Day?
First launched in 2015 to celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary, Amazon Prime Day is Amazon’s second biggest shopping event after Black Friday. It was Amazon itself who confirmed that in 2019 Prime Day surpassed Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, with over 175 million items sold.
The event is exclusive to Prime members, who can access deals and sales across all departments and categories.
The first Amazon Prime Day lasted 24 hours. However, with its popularity gaining momentum, the event was extended to last 48 hours in 2019.
This year, Prime Day will last 48 hours and be a worldwide event, involving over 150 million Prime Members is 19 countries.
What you should expect from Amazon Prime Day 2020
If there is one thing that the coronavirus pandemic made apparent it is that people love to shop on Amazon.
However, shopping on the platform was also seen as a necessity for many. From house essentials to food, games and hobbies, buyers around the world have relied on Amazon to provide what was needed to spend life during an extended period of lockdown caused by the COVID19 global pandemic.
Because of this situation, e-commerce platforms experienced an increase of up to 60% in user acquisition from Q1 to Q2 in 2020, with mobile acquisition up by 62%. Figures suggest that these newly acquired users are here to stay, with 83% of global e-buyers stating that they will continue to shop online even with the high street opening its doors again.
For Amazon, the increase in users and trade on the platform is apparent when looking at its Q2 results. The company reported $88.9 billion in turnover and double-digit revenue growth year over year, which indicate that Amazon Prime Day 2020 could be the biggest yet.
According to a recent study by Braze/Wakefield, COVID-19 “has left a major mark on the consumer consciousness, reshaping how individual shoppers engage and think about brands they patronize”.
Given the proximity of Prime Day to the Early Black Friday Deals (26th October), Halloween (31st October) and Black Friday (27th November), this year’s holiday season will start earlier than ever. Shoppers will be offered several more chances to shop for deals at discounted prices – presenting an unprecedented selling opportunity for all Amazon sellers.
With Prime Day located so close to mainstream holidays such as Halloween and Thanksgiving, Prime Members have the perfect opportunity to buy decorations, costumes and other essentials to make the most of these popular events. The event is also conveniently planned at the beginning of the autumnal season, when shoppers might be looking for new gadgets and objects to make their homes cosy after a long and hot summer.
How Sellers can prepare for Amazon Prime Day 2020
With Amazon Prime Day being only two weeks away, it is important to plan and act quickly to ensure your products will be visible to your potential customers.
Check your inventory
With the shopping event being so close to the Early Black Friday Deals, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you will need to ensure your stock levels are high. While you want your products to be visible during Amazon Prime Day, you should plan your inventory in a way that will allow you not to sell out right at the beginning of the holiday season and keep new stock ready to roll into Amazon fulfilment centres when it runs low.
Optimise your listings
Identify your best sellers and make sure your listings are optimised to catch the eye of the millions of shoppers looking for incredible deals. Your listing title, bullets, descriptions and images should be up to date.
Our partners at REAL Amazon Coaching suggest adding keywords such as “Prime Day”, “Prime Week” and “Prime Day deals” to your listings in order to make your store more visible.
Invest in a Prime Day PPC campaign and optimise your existing PPC campaigns
Your Amazon Prime Day products and deals might already be in one of your PPC campaigns.
However, to ensure these will catch the eye of the millions of Prime Members looking for deals during the event, you can invest in a bespoke PPC campaign to run during the Prime Day week. It is recommended to start the PPC campaign a day or two before the beginning of the event.
Go multi-channel
Never refuse the opportunity to shout out about your deals and discounts on channels outside of Amazon.
Increase your products’ chances to gain visibility on Amazon Prime Day by exploiting a series of channels outside Amazon, such as email marketing, social media and landing pages. In this way, your audience will know which deals to expect from you during the shopping event.
Have a record-breaking holiday season
Amazon Prime Day 2020 is expected to smash all records.
Following the exceptional number of sales Amazon registered during the first quarters of the year, we can only but presume the trend will continue growing on the same trajectory.
This year, the shopping event will happen in the already busy Q4, and it will kick-start to the frantic holiday season shopping. This represents a huge selling opportunity for Amazon Sellers who are looking to make this quarter memorable.
With Prime Day so close, Sellers should start preparing their listings and store now, not forgetting to use a multi-channel approach.
If you need help, support or advice with your e-commerce business, contact the experts at AVASK who are on-hand to provide you with dedicated business advisory services for all e-sellers and e-tailers.