Prime Day 2022 was Amazon’s “biggest Prime Day event ever,” and the brand is looking for lightning to strike again with a second Prime Day this fall. With the announcement of the second Prime Day being October 11-12, a notice for submitting Lightning Deals for a “Prime Fall” deal event can be found in Seller Central.
With inflation concerns looming ahead of Q4 and the holiday shopping season, Fall Prime Day could offer additional sales leading into a critical time of year for many brands. We’re sharing some ways brands can use their successes from the most recent Prime Day to influence their strategy in the Fall.
First, it’s important to decide how heavily to lean into this event. Will your brand offer a number of different promotions and heavily discounted items, a select few promotions, or simply not have any promotions running? If your brand had success during July’s Prime Day, at the very least, a few key product promotions are a solid strategy for the Q4 event.
Additionally, Code3 clients were able to reach many new customers and introduce them to their brands during July’s Prime Day. The % of new-to-brand sales from Sponsored Brand campaigns during Prime Day was 72% compared to 53% during the lead-up timeframe before the event. If your brand found similar success with new customers during Prime Day, it’s wise to participate in some promotions, as those customers may be seeking your brand out directly during the next event.
Next, identify historical top-selling products using total sales, not just ad-attributed sales. Take a look at products that had increased sales velocity during July’s Prime Day event, and hone in on strong inventory for these products. Remember, it’s key to ensure that an item does not go out of stock during the event. If that happens, and there isn’t enough time to get more inventory to Amazon prior to the holidays, it can have a negative impact on holiday sales.
Furthermore, when an item goes out of stock, it will lose the Buy Box and take a big hit in any current rankings. Losing a crucial rank spot anytime during Q4 can have big implications on holiday sales, so staying on top of inventory is vital.
Even if your brand is only offering a few promotions on key ASINs, now is the time to think about inventory and begin sending shipments to Amazon. Ensuring that there is enough inventory to handle a fall promotion event plus the typical holiday shopping is critical, and it’s never too soon to think about inventory.
If possible, brands should factor in some wiggle room by sending in additional inventory for the Fall Prime Day. This can help ensure there is adequate inventory throughout all of Q4, and ASINs won’t go out of stock.
Now that the data is coming in after Summer Prime Day, it’s a good idea to take a thorough look at your brand’s numbers to influence Fall Prime Day strategy, as well as Q4 strategy as a whole. Brands should analyze:
Once you can successfully answer those questions, your Fall Prime Day strategy should fall into place relatively easily. Utilizing successful tactics from July’s Prime Day, as well as a reallocation strategy to better support top performers, can be beneficial overall. However, Fall Prime Day can also be a great time to do some testing, especially in the lead-up to the holiday shopping season.
Additionally, it’s important to map out budget utilization surrounding the event. Ensure you have sufficient budget to help build up to the event, support during, and take advantage of post-event traffic and activity.
Regardless of whether or not your brand will be offering promotions, everyone should expect increased traffic during the event, so it’s important to make sure your catalog, and especially prioritized products, are buttoned up with copy, imagery, and are technically sound on the backend with attributes, variations, and more. Additionally, ensure ratings and reviews are favorable and the brand store is updated.
Whether you’re looking for support with PDP optimizations ahead of the busy shopping season in Q4, or help with media during the Fall Prime Day, Code3 can help. Contact us today.