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Amazon Prime Day

What is Prime Day?

Amazon Prime day is the e-tailers Black Friday in July you could say. but unlike Black Friday that focuses more on gifting, Prime day focuses more on personal shopping. It began in July 2015 when Amazon celebrated its 20th anniversary. So, this is its fifth year running. Prime day 2019 starts on Monday July 15th and runs through Tuesday, July 16th. (A full 48 hours). The shoppers who get to participate are Prime members. But what should Amazon Prime Day sellers know about the event?

Why Participate in Prime Day?

For starters Amazon declared it the biggest shopping event in its history. More than 100 million in products were purchased in 2018. The advertisements run by Amazon bring in a ton of traffic. So, it’s a great way to improve your sales and ROI. Most sellers see not only an improvement but a large jump in sales. It’s also a great way to get new customers and therefore, more reviews and new clients that you can retarget for additional potential sales in the future. You can maximize traffic with Prime Day ads.

Ways to Participate in Prime Day

There are a few ways sellers can take part in the prime day deals. Know the different ways that are available. This can help you decide what will work best for your company. And help you plan for next year. Some of the ways Prime Day Sellers can participate in Prime Deals are:

Lightning Deals

Lightning deals are promotions that appear on the Amazon Deals page for a limited amount of time. The normal window these deals are opened for is about four hours. Just because you submit a lightning deal doesn’t mean your promotion will be displayed. Amazon uses an algorithm to determine which are the best deals submitted. They are then ranked for their sales potential. Amazon awards the best time and position to those deals with best quality inventory, price, and amount available.

The submission for lightning deals has already closed. The deadline was on May 10th, 2019 PDT midnight. So, if you dropped the ball this year. Make sure you plan on this for 2020. You can best prepare by making sure you meet certain criteria to be eligible for a lightening deal. Eligibility is determined based on whether you 1. Have a professional selling account 2. You have at least 5 seller feedback ratings per month. 3. Your overall rating is at least 3.5 stars.

Another thing to consider is whether your products actually qualify. You can check the Lightning Deals Dashboard under your professional selling account. If you don’t see anything listed in your dashboard then you don’t have any eligible products. For Amazon’s Lightning deal product eligibility criteria click here. This will give you an idea of any changes/additions you need to make in order to qualify for 2020.

Coupons

If you’ve missed the deadline for 2019 Prime Day lightening deals you can still take advantage of coupons. Coupons can help you draw in those Prime Day shoppers. The bright orange discount label helps make your deals more obvious. This creates more visibility for your product using a discount that is on your own terms. Promoting your product with a coupon brings it even more attention as customers will be more likely to focus on products with the bright orange coupon label.

If you think coupons are the right selling tool for your business, make sure to remember that it takes at least two days for a coupon to activate after it’s been created. You should set reminders so that you don’t forget to create them before Prime Day is here. Also, don’t try to sell your products that normally don’t sell well. It’s not the time for that. Sell your best-performing products using coupons as this will increase your ROI. This in turn increases your Amazon sales rank.

Deal of the Day

These are deals featured noticeably on the Amazon Deals page. They include a single item that is discounted for one day only. It’s available to Vendors only. Instead of running for only a few hours like lightening deals. They run a full 24 hours. They are usually the first deal a customer sees. So, they are a great way to get product visibility on Prime Day.

Ways Sellers can prepare in advance

For the last five years Prime Day has taken place in July. It starts on the 15th this year (2019) and will last for 48 hours. It started on the 16th in 2018 and lasted for 36 hours. In 2017 it started on July 10th. And in 2016 it started on July 12th. The first year in 2015 it started on July 15th and only lasted 24 hours. So, to be safe, plan for it to be somewhere around those dates next year (from July 10-July 16). This gives you plenty of time to prepare for Prime Day July 2020. Plan for it to run at least 48 hours (but based on past trends that could be extended in 2020).

Now that you have an idea of when to expect Prime Day 2020. What are some ways that you can be more prepared as a seller for Prime Day 2020? We’ve come up with a few things to get you started on the road to Prime Day Success:

Stock up on that Inventory

During Prime Day there is a spike in sales because there are a lot more people shopping. You are going to want to stock up on your best-selling items. It’s important to have an idea of what you could potentially sell. You don’t want to miss out on potential sales.

If you sell on other platforms be aware that Prime Day increases sales for other online retailers. This is called the “Halo Effect”. Plan for that as well by making sure you have enough stock to sell on your other channels. It might be a way to fulfill a need a consumer has if they missed the Prime Day sale to offer it on another channel right after Prime Day ends.

Make realistic sales goals for Prime Day and record how you do and how much you sell so you can make even better decisions on how much stock you might need in following years.

Create some hype

Use Social Media to let you customers know when Prime Day is. And what kind of deals they can look forward to. This is the day and age of influencers. If you can find affiliates or influencers that will promote your Prime Day products, then do that. Influencers usually already have a wide reach on social media platforms. They can access people who they have relationships with already.

You can also take advantage of Facebook groups. Create an event and invite all your customers and tell them to invite their friends. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter giveaways are another great way to increase awareness and reward your biggest supporters!

Increase visibility

A great resource for Amazon product optimization is the Amazon SEO page. Amazon uses an algorithm to determine the relevancy of the millions of products stored in its database. They use the search queries entered by users. Amazon considers a few different things when listing your product as a result to a customer search. It’s important to know what they are. Some of these things include having a picture that meets Amazon criteria. Including lifestyle listings (show product benefits).  Don’t forget to own your own Amazon Presence. For information click here.

Another important part of Prime Day preparation is making sure you are using the very best Keywords. Make sure the ones you use are the top keywords for your products. This makes it more likely they will be in the top spots for Amazon Prime Day Sellers searches. If you aren’t sure where to begin, then look at what your competitive are doing. Which Keywords are they using? What are the most popular searches for your products? What words are used in those searches? Using a keyword tool can help you with this such as Google Keyword Planner for broad ideas. Or SellerApp’s Product Keyword Feature (which works directly with Amazon.)

Budget it out

In order to be competitive for Prime Day it’s always a good idea to offer discounts. That doesn’t mean price it as low as you can. Many times, it’s not the lowest-priced items that get all the sales. If you can offer discounts and deals, then do that. This will draw attention to your items. But if you can’t, then good reviews from customers can also make a difference as well as having good product images and good overall listings.

Be aware of your potential Prime Day costs. Prime day promotions are expensive: the registration fee alone is $500 per lightening deal (this began in 2017). This can worry sellers as they wonder if the performance of their products will justify the steep costs. Make sure the costs are worth it for your company. Plan to sell enough stock so you can come out ahead.

Prime Day Sellers Can Start Preparing Now

Prime Day is an awesome opportunity for sellers to increase sales. Try to plan because this is something you want to be ready for! If you already missed out on being ready for this year’s Prime Day sales event. You can start preparing for Prime Day 2020. Plan on having enough of your best-selling items in stock. Get everyone hyped up for the event on social media. Optimize your listings and keywords on Amazon. Make realistic sales goals and budget accordingly. You got this!