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How to Prepare for Amazon Prime Day

Threecolts
Tom Wicky
Published
May 3, 2023
Modified
July 22, 2024
how to prepare for amazon prime day

With Amazon Prime Day driving record-breaking sales and attracting millions of shoppers worldwide, it's crucial for eCommerce retailers to be well prepared for it. 

So, how can your business capitalize on this sales bonanza and achieve remarkable results?

In this comprehensive guide, we walk you through how to prepare for Amazon Prime Day, from understanding the event's significance to optimizing your product listings and crafting a winning promotional strategy. 

What is Amazon Prime Day?

Amazon Prime Day is an annual shopping event exclusive to Amazon Prime members. It offers significant discounts and deals on a wide range of products on the marketplace. 

Launched in 2015 to celebrate Amazon's 20th anniversary, Prime Day has become a highly anticipated event for shoppers and a massive sales opportunity for eCommerce retailers. 

With millions of products sold during the event, it's a golden opportunity for retailers to increase sales, attract new customers, and boost their brand visibility on the platform.

The Importance of Preparing for Prime Day

To capitalize on the increased traffic and heightened buyer interest during the event, your business must have everything ready for Amazon Prime Day. 

By optimizing your product listings, planning your inventory, and creating an effective promotional strategy, you can maximize your profits from this exclusive event. 

The increased visibility and sales from Prime Day can result in long-term growth, a larger consumer base, improved Amazon seller rank, and a strong reputation on the platform.

Amazon Prime Day 2022 Statistics

To understand the impact of Prime Day on eCommerce retailers, let's take a look at some key statistics from the 2022 event:

  • Total sales figures: Amazon reported a record-breaking $12.09 billion in global sales during Prime Day 2022, surpassing the previous year's figures.
  • Spend per household: Spend per household neared $200 for the event, up from $156 in 2021.
  • Top-selling products and categories: Electronics, home goods, pet care, and health & beauty products were among the top-selling categories, with popular items including Amazon Echo devices, Apple AirPods, and Instant Pots.

During Prime Day 2022, small orders reigned supreme: Almost three-quarters (74%) contained just one item, while less than one in 10 included three or more. Despite the low item count per order, the average spend per transaction reached $59.88.

Over a third (37%) of orders fell within a $20 price range, showcasing the popularity of affordable deals during the event. On the other end of the spectrum, one in 10 orders (12%) exceeded the $100 mark, indicating that shoppers were willing to make high-value purchases during this limited-time sales period.

Steps to Prepare for Amazon Prime Day

Independent businesses participating in the event saw a combined sales total of over $3.5 billion, demonstrating Prime Day's immense opportunity for small and medium-sized eCommerce retailers.

To make the most of this online event, follow the below essential steps.

1. Ensure your business is eligible to participate.

To participate in Prime Day, you must have an Amazon Seller or Vendor Central account and meet specific performance metrics, such as Order Defect Rate (ODR) and Late Shipment Rate (LSR). If you're not yet a seller on Amazon, sign up for an account well before the event to ensure you're eligible to partake in the festivities.

2. Review Prime Day historical sales performance.

If you’re an existing Amazon seller, analyze your sales performance from past Prime Days. The insights uncovered from your previous outcomes will provide you with a better understanding of anticipated traffic and sales volume for the upcoming event.

Pay close attention to key metrics such as volume, conversion rate, and average order value (AOV). By identifying whether your business experienced stockouts for top-selling products, you can establish practical objectives for Prime Day 2023

3. Plan your inventory and supply chain.

Accurate inventory planning is crucial for Prime Day success. Start by analyzing your sales history and forecasting the demand for your products during the event. Ensure you have enough stock on hand to meet that anticipated demand and avoid stockouts, which can cost you sales and damage your seller reputation.

Collaborate with your suppliers to guarantee your products are readily available during Prime Day. Communicate your expectations and order volumes in advance, allowing them to prepare for increased production if necessary. 

Establishing strong relationships with your suppliers will help you navigate potential supply chain challenges and keep your products in stock when it matters most.

Selling through Amazon FBA, Seller Fulfilled Prime, or Amazon Direct Fulfillment

If you’re not a Prime seller on Amazon, now’s the time to evaluate your fulfillment options. You can sell via Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), Seller Fulfilled Prime, or Amazon Direct Fulfillment. 

Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, so select the one that best suits your business needs. To determine the ideal fulfillment method for your company, review the pros and cons of FBA versus FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant). Also, familiarize yourself with Amazon's fulfillment requirements. 

Remember, only sellers offering products with Prime Shipping can participate in Prime Day, so this is a mandatory step.

Alternatively, you can explore partnering with a third-party fulfillment service to deliver packages to your customers. If you haven't already, consider enrolling in FBA and working with a reliable FBA prep partner like MyFBAPrep to guarantee your products will be in stock and ready to ship during the crucial sales period.

4. Optimize your product listings.

Optimizing your product listings is essential to maximize visibility and conversion rates during Prime Day. Ensure your product titles are informative and include relevant keywords, while keeping them within the recommended character limit.

Craft compelling product descriptions that highlight the benefits and features of your products, and use high-quality images to showcase your items from multiple angles.

Utilize Amazon Enhanced Brand Content 

Leverage Amazon's Enhanced Brand Content (EBC) to create a more engaging and informative product detail page. 

EBC allows you to include additional images, videos, and rich text to your listings, enabling you to tell your brand story and provide a better shopping experience for customers.

5. Develop a Prime Day promotional strategy.

Offering attractive deals is a key component of a successful Prime Day strategy. Choose from various promotional options, such as Lightning Deals, Prime Exclusive Discounts, and coupons or vouchers. Select the most suitable option for your products and target audience to maximize your sales potential.

You can also boost your product visibility during Prime Day with a targeted advertising plan. Capitalize on Amazon's Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands to promote your items directly on the platform, and consider Amazon Display Ads for broader reach. 

Allocate your advertising budget wisely, focusing on high-performing products and targeting strategies that have proven successful.

6. Engage with customers through social media and email marketing.

Use your social media channels and launch email marketing campaigns to build excitement around your Prime Day deals. Share teasers and event countdowns to entice customers to visit your Amazon store on the big day.

Similarly, give your followers and subscribers exclusive previews of your Prime Day discounts and offers. This rewards your loyal customers and encourages them to share your deals with their friends and family, further amplifying your reach.

7. Monitor and adjust your strategy the day of.

Keep a close eye on your real-time sales performance during Prime Day. Take advantage of Amazon's reporting tools to track your sales and advertising metrics so you can make data-driven decisions and adjust your strategy as needed.

Throughout the day, remain responsive to customer inquiries and feedback. Quick and effective communication contributes to more positive reviews and higher customer satisfaction, which ultimately increase sales.

8. Post-Prime Day analysis and improvement.

Once Prime Day is over, analyze your performance data. Identify your top-selling products, most successful promotions, and the advertising campaigns that yielded the best results. Understanding which aspects of your strategy worked well and which didn't is essential to refining your approach.

Based on your performance analysis, pinpoint areas where you can improve, such as optimizing product listings, adjusting promotional strategies, or enhancing customer service. These adjustments will guide your preparations for the next Prime Day or other sales events and help you achieve even greater outcomes.

Finally, apply the lessons learned from Prime Day to your broader eCommerce strategy. The insights you've gained will help you strengthen your brand presence on Amazon, improve your customer engagement, and increase your sales performance year-round.

Wrapping Up — Set yourself up for success on Amazon Prime Day 2023!

With these essential steps in mind, you can prepare appropriately for Amazon Prime Day 2023. Rely on this guide to ensure you've covered your bases and are ready for the event. It’s essential to learn from your past performances (if you have this historical data), have plenty of stock available the day of, and build anticipation by teasing your sales. After the event, analyze your performance and take steps to optimize your processes for productive future sales days. Through careful planning and preparation, you can turn Prime Day into a successful venture for your business.

About Us

Threecolts is a comprehensive suite of advanced ecommerce software solutions. We're designed to empower retail vendors and marketplace sellers on Amazon, Walmart, and beyond. Our tools optimize every aspect of ecommerce operations to ensure maximum profitability.

For sellers aiming to earn through reselling, Tactical Arbitrage helps you find hidden deals 5X faster. ScoutIQ provides instant insights for scoring in stores. DataSpark helps you get your next bestseller on Walmart Marketplace across over 14 million products in its database.

If you want to sell globally without storing, shipping, or risking money on inventory, SellerRunning simplifies cross-border dropshipping. We let you manage and expand your ecommerce business across multiple Amazon marketplaces seamlessly.

Managing products across leading ecommerce channels has never been easier either. ExportYourStore ensures hassle-free cross-listing and product syncing. Meanwhile, Hemi integrates over 100 ecommerce platforms, handling everything from inventory to logistics.

For efficient financial operations, FeedbackWhiz Profits offers a robust ecommerce accounting solution. We give you total control over your finances. You can track earnings and spending and visualize financial data without much effort.

You can also enhance your customer service with ChannelReply. Centralize marketplace communications through order data alongside support tickets from major marketplaces. Meanwhile, Onsite Support combines AI tools and custom-built help centers to amp up your support capacity. With these two, you can ensure that your customer service team can do more with less work.

Simplify Amazon operations with InventoryLab. It's an all-in-one solution that enhances everything from sourcing to logistics to accounting. We make inventory management and business workflows as streamlined as possible, so you won’t have to think about it.

Protect your profits with our advanced recovery solutions. DimeTyd Amazon helps 1P vendors recover lost revenues from overbilling and inventory discrepancies. DimeTyd Walmart simplifies the process of disputing unacknowledged shipments and organizing deductions. DimeTyd Sellers offers comprehensive monitoring and dispute resolution for Amazon FBA.

Automate your pricing strategies with SmartRepricer. We'll help you stay competitive by adjusting prices automatically based on custom rules. You can make sure that you always win the Buy Box with just a few clicks.

Finally, safeguard your online reputation with our reviews and alerts solutions. FeedbackWhiz Emails lets you handle Amazon review requests with personalized feedback campaigns. CR Feedback offers cost-effective feedback gathering for eBay and Amazon review requests. FeedbackWhiz Alerts keeps you informed with timely notifications on reviews, threats to your listings, and other important events.

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