Amazon Prime Day is officially slated to take place June 21-22, 2021. Is your brand prepared to handle the sales rush?
Across a sample of ClearCut clients, we found a sales increase of 6.8X during Prime Day 2020, versus a brand’s average 30-day sales. In other words:
Sales during the two-day event are on average 680% higher than in the previous 30 days.
With a significant impact to your bottom line at stake, and increasing competition on the marketplace, now is the time to prepare. Read on to learn about our key tips to capitalize on consumers’ increased spending, unload extra inventory, and come out on top during Prime Day 2021.
Tip #1 – Forecast Demand, And Then Stock Up Some More
It may seem obvious, but it’s imperative that your brand evaluates your Amazon FBA inventory for the heightened demand during Prime Day. The last thing you’ll want is to go out-of-stock when a crowd of potential buyers see your listings.
The best way to forecast demand for your best-selling products is to review your past sales trends. However, if you’re selling newer items, or this is your first year selling during Prime Day, you’ll want to get your hands on category and competitor sales trends through deep market research or a specialized retail data analytics platform.
As I noted previously, ClearCut clients have seen an average “sales lift” of nearly 7X during Prime Day. Whatever your sales multiplier is expected to be, we strongly advise having a cushion, or slightly more inventory available than you think is needed. As consumers continue to rely on eCommerce and as the economy bounces back from the challenges of the pandemic, we predict products bouncing off the digital shelf more than in previous years.
Tip #2 – Strategically Reduce Your Prices
It’s no secret that shoppers participate in Prime Day to get a good deal. Thus, how brands reduce their pricing will separate the winners from the losers. Here are some insights and tips:
- Based on our extensive Amazon sales data, the sweet spot for discounting your products, while maximizing sales velocity during Prime Day, is 20-25%. If your discount is smaller than that, competitors will likely steal your sales.
- Don’t underestimate the power of strike-through pricing and couponing. These are simple but cost-effective tactics to grab the attention of bargain-hunting shoppers. With the new “Lowest Price Last 30” sticker, strike-through pricing is prominently displayed for the consumer to see.
- Lightning deals are another great tactic to explore. Just keep in mind that you don’t get to set the discount, so you’ll want to ensure that this strategy doesn’t interfere with your MAP integrity. Read more about MAP and how it is critical to your brand’s reputation here.
- If your brand is looking to liquidate any product — use Prime Day to your advantage. Consider discounting these products even more than others to garner the attention of your buyers, drive conversions, and offer your brand cleaner inventory moving into the holiday season.
Tip #3 – Balance the Risks and Rewards of Advertising
Optimizing your PPC campaigns during Prime Day will undoubtedly create an uptick in visitors to your product pages. For instance, during last year’s Prime Day, we observed an average 154% increase in impressions!
Of course, increased eyeballs don’t come without a cost:
- Last year, we saw the average cost-per-click (CPC) during Prime Day increase by 16%.
- Brands should also anticipate a higher ACoS. This is simply the nature of advertising during Amazon’s marquee event. With more sellers vying for the top search positions, your ratio of ad spend to ad revenue may not be as low as your average performance.
- It’s additionally important to note that to boost your conversions in an impactful way during Prime Day, brands should spend up to 30% of their typical monthly budget each day.
Tip #4 – Fine-Tune Your SEO Strategy
While paid advertising through PPC can be effective- don’t forget about one of the most powerful promotional mechanisms on Amazon: SEO. At ClearCut, we believe that SEO is the backbone of any successful Amazon marketing strategy. In fact, some of our clients are positioned so well with their organic search results that they are pulling back on, or completely bypassing, PPC during Prime Day this year given the high cost of ads during the hyper-competitive event.
(Need a refresher on Amazon SEO? Read our 2021 Amazon SEO Guide, here.)
Interested in discussing your Prime Day strategies with me or one my experienced Amazon marketing team members? Schedule a meeting through this link. We are here to help!