Amazon Prime Day is fast approaching. In 2022 it runs for a 48 hour period on July 12th and 13th.
We all know how big this sales period is for Amazon sellers, but Ecommerce brands who don’t list a single product on Amazon can still see huge revenue spikes around Prime Day if they build an intentional strategy.
If you’re a non-Amazon Ecommerce brand who hasn’t planned anything for Prime Day yet, it’s not too late.
Follow this quick guide and make July one of your biggest sales months of the year. We’ll be doing something similar for most clients here at Ecommerce Intelligence.
Why Prime Day Matters for Non-Amazon Sellers
Prime Day now rivals Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend as one of the year’s biggest online shopping events. Every year it becomes even more clear that Prime Day benefits the entire Ecommerce industry – not just Amazon sellers. This has become know as Prime Day’s “Halo Effect” on the wider Ecommerce market.
And with inflation at a 40 year high of 8.6%, shoppers are much more likely to be looking for deep discounts this summer. It’s estimated that non-Amazon Ecommerce retailers will sell $5.22 billion online during the 2022 Prime Day period.
According to BlackFriday.com 88% of Amazon Prime members plan to shop on Prime Day. That’s huge because around 65% of consumers in the US have Amazon Prime.
These value hungry buyers will be online and looking for deals, and there’s absolutely zero reason all of their spend needs be on Amazon. We know this to be true from Prime Day data in previous years.
Here are some interesting and surprising stats from Prime Day 2021:
- In 2021 shoppers spent over $11.2 billion on Amazon during the Prime Day promotion. This was a 7.7% increase over 2020’s $10.4 billion spend, despite the pandemic, supply chain issues, and inflation.
- Research by DigitalCommerce360.com shows that in 2021 over 50% of the top 250 online retailers launched competing sales at the same time as Amazon’s June Prime Day event.
- On average, brands competing with Amazon in various categories are expected to see sales increases of 45.9% during the two day sales period. This is the power of the Prime Day “Halo Effect”.
So we know consumers are spending billions of additional dollars during Prime Day – much of it outside of Amazon.
The world’s biggest retailers have already figured out how to leverage this buying frenzy. Target, Best Buy, Walmart, and countless smaller brands have already announced their own competing sale events around the same time. Independent Ecommerce retailers can absolutely do the same and see huge success.
Here’s how to put together a winning Prime Day strategy in just a day or two.
Building an Effective Last Minute Prime Day Strategy
Three winning strategies which are fast and easy to implement for Prime Day are:
- Flash sale or lightning sale
- Free expedited/2-day shipping
- Bundle & Save deals
You only need one to succeed so pick the strategy that best fits your customers, margins, and the current inventory you have available in stock.
Remember that in 2021 more than half of the top 1000 online retailers launched competing Prime Day sales.
You can easily look up what other brands did last year successfully both in your market and in other non-competing markets. Two great tools to research a brand’s historical promotions are Milled.com and MailCharts.com
Here are a few examples you can model, found with a simple search for “Prime Day” on either of those tools” These brands are all driving consumers to their own websites, not to Amazon:
What these retailers are likely doing here is replicating their most successful sales promotions from other times during the year and changing the messaging to be Prime focused. This is simple to do and any brand in any market can implement this strategy to drive a significant boost in sales.
A straightforward discount can work well, for example 30% off everything or 25% off orders over $100. To give the sale more of a Prime feel you can also run an expedited shipping promotion giving customers your fastest shipping option for free. Fast free shipping is one of the biggest benefits of Prime.
Lastly, if you’re concerned about margins with deep discount promotions – which will be everywhere during Prime Day – consider creating high value bundles of complimentary products. This strategy will give you a larger average order value and make it easier to offer a larger percentage discount on the total value of the bundle.
Marketing Your Last Minute Prime Day Offer
If you’re short on time and trying to create a promotion just in time for Prime Day, your email list is likely going to be the quickest and most effective way to push your shiny new offer. Create a simple Prime-themed template based on your previous best performing campaign, and schedule out a string of email marketing promotions to your engaged subscribers and customers.
If you have the time, try to create a dedicated Prime Day deals landing page as well. This will usually increase conversions.
When running a two day Prime sale it’s reasonable to send 4-6 emails promoting it. Here is an example schedule you can use:
- One or two days before the sale: Let people know something big is coming, and to watch their inboxes.
- Early morning on sale day #1: Standard launch email with “48-hours only” scarcity to drive more purchases.
- Evening on sale day #1: Reminder for anyone who didn’t see the morning email (inboxes will be crowded during this time)
- Early morning on sale day #2: “Deals must end tonight – don’t miss out!”
- Evening on sale day #1: Final call on Prime Day deals.
If you use the SMS channel then you can replicate this promotion via text messaging to customers. Two SMS campaigns over two days will be sufficient.
That is a quick and easy email framework you can implement to promote a sale on relatively short notice. Of course if you have time, also create assets for social media, paid social ads on Facebook and Instagram, and let your best influencers know.
Make sure every page on your website also promotes your Prime Day offer to increase conversions from your regular traffic.
This simple strategy can be implemented quickly, and it works. There’s a reason so many non-Amazon brands are launching Prime Day offers.
Billions of additional dollars will be spent online this year between July 12-13. Make sure your brand gets it’s fair share.
Want some help? Get in touch to book a Klaviyo consulting call and we’ll be happy to discuss a personalized strategy for any sale period throughout the year that’s perfectly suited to you and your brand.