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Although it seems like the holiday season concluded just recently, brands that sell on Amazon always need to be ready for the next peak season. In a few weeks, Valentine’s Day will be celebrated across the world. And Valentine’s Day e-commerce sales continue to grow year over year. In fact, 29% of shoppers buy Valentine’s Day gifts online, according to a survey by the National Retail Association. Holidays like this serve as an opportunity for brands to personalize the customer experience, stand out from the competition, and capitalize on a potential influx in sales. In this blog post, we share how you can optimize your Amazon presence for Valentine’s Day.

What to Keep in Mind Before Optimizing Your Amazon Presence 

Many shoppers turn to marketplaces like Amazon to buy their special someone a gift. But Valentine’s Day offers brands a short window of time to influence last-minute shoppers. As a result, it's necessary to strategically prepare inventory to avoid stock-outs. When doing so, it's important to narrow down a list of products to focus on during this period. For a frame of reference, take a look at what products performed best during Valentine's Day last year.  

We recommend considering the above, even if a brand doesn't belong to a category often associated with the holiday, like Jewelry & Watches or Chocolates & Candy. Being well prepared and going the extra mile to optimize across the ecosystem could make a difference for any brand during this time.

Focus on Creative and Store Updates 

Since Amazon doesn’t provide much opportunity for branding, brands can look for unique ways to appeal to their customers during a holiday. One way to do this is to prioritize creative and store updates. 

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we recommend revisiting product images and your brand’s Amazon storefront, including the following:

Product Images

Add a festive icon to a product’s main image (making sure to stay within Amazon’s guidelines). Doing so can more effectively grab a shopper's attention and establish the product as an ideal gift for the occasion. Brands can also create a festive image that can be included in any product’s image library. This will reinforce the product’s association with Valentine’s Day and create consistency across the catalog.

A+ Content

Update a section of your product’s A+ pages to focus on the holiday. This also can help shoppers associate your brand with (or perhaps even remind them of) Valentine's Day. And it could increase the likelihood they stick around and engage with the product further.

Amazon Stores

Creative teams at MPS have consistently found the front page of a brand’s Amazon Store earns more views and sales than other pages. We recommend brands move priority products for the holiday to the front of the store. This removes barriers to discovering these key products and improves the chances of making a sale. Brands can also create a festive header for their stores and pique the interest of shoppers that may not have been considering your brand for Valentine’s Day.

Revisit Advertising Campaigns with Renewed Perspective 

Similar to any other peak season, brands should increase advertising spend between two and four weeks before Valentine’s Day. This helps brands gain an advantage over competitors by creating awareness ahead of the rush. It also jump-starts important momentum. In doing so, consider what will make deals most effective and focus on aligning bids and budgets. Peak seasons often cause budgets to exhaust quicker than normal. So, we recommend keeping a close eye on performance to allow your brand to adjust in real-time if needed.  

When Valentine’s Day passes, revisit your campaigns within two to four weeks of the holiday. It’s helpful to support the most successful products with extra promotions and coupons to continue to fuel Amazon’s flywheel. 

Focus on Your Brand’s Mobile Experience

Over the years, mobile has played an increasingly important role in e-commerce. On Amazon, in particular, the Buy Box is more prominent on smartphones than on laptops or tablets. As a result, the chance of making a sale is greater when shoppers land on a product detail page optimized for mobile. In fact, 40% of Amazon shoppers will go to a competitor after having a poor mobile experience. 

We recommend making sure design is eye-catching, and to focus on short-form, easy-to-browse copy. Long titles and paragraphs don’t make for a pleasant mobile experience. 

With this in mind, optimizing to win and keep the Buy Box is also crucial to success and a customer’s mobile experience. We suggest starting by comparing competitor prices. Then, if it’s necessary, brands can adjust a product’s price. Brands should also consider the price of their products on other marketplaces. If a product is less expensive on Walmart.com or Target.com, Amazon may shut off the buy box.

Next year, be sure to discuss how to optimize your Amazon presence for Valentine’s Day with your strategic partner during Q1 planning meetings. Having a strong strategic leader behind a brand’s Amazon strategy will allow for success and to stand out among the competition. 

If you could use the support of a strategic partner, schedule a free consultation. As always, we’re here to answer any questions.