Amazon Prime Day 2022 is July 12 - 13!
There’s still time for sellers to prepare for it by quickly implementing strategies that will position them to have their most profitable period of sales before, during and after Prime Day officially ends.
What’s Different About Amazon Prime Day in 2022
Things have changed in 2022.
Sellers must now deal with rising costs for manufacturing their products, shipping them for fulfillment, FBA storage fees, as well as the additional costs tied to supply-chain disruptions.
And these concerns are without factoring in how rising inflation may impact shopper spending on Prime Day. In response to increases in prices for such essentials as gasoline and groceries (without cost-of-living adjustments from employers), sellers can expect shoppers to be spending less money on consumer goods or impulse buying as they try to stick to their household budgets.
Amazon’s recent Fuel Surcharge will also have repercussions for seller profit margins during the Prime Day event. It tacks on a 5% fuel and inflation surcharge for FBA sellers, increasing fulfillment fees. These fees range from $0.15 for the smallest and lightest products to $8.54 (plus 4 cents per pound over 90 pounds) for heavy, oversized, and dangerous products.
Sellers should check the current FBA fulfillment fees to determine how great of a range of discounts they can offer for their various products without sacrificing profitability, and whether or not FBA is still a good option.
While shoppers may have experienced substantial financial strains in recent years and have adapted their spending habits to reflect the economic uncertainties (job loss, income fluctuation) caused by the Coronavirus, some industry watchers believe these factors will make Prime Day deals even more attractive than they’ve been in the past.
They feel there will be considerable pressure on consumers to obtain the best deals possible when buying products, which make the special discounts, coupon codes and slashed pricing of Prime Day irresistible.
Only time will tell.
But until the final Prime Day sales data is in, here are 10 tips for…
How To Prepare for Amazon Prime Day
- Optimize Product Listings. One of the best ways for sellers to increase their sales during Prime Day and throughout the remainder of the year is through keyword optimized content that showcases their brand voice, and graphics that proactively answer any questions that Prime Day shoppers may have about products before they buy them.
Sellers should share their brand story/mission and take time to review their product pages before Prime Day to ensure that their listings are well-written, compelling shoppers to click the ‘buy’ button.
- Product titles: Make sure titles clearly describe products and include relevant keywords to help products to appear in the search results to capture shoppers' eyes. The more relevant keywords a seller includes in titles, the more likely the product is to show up in search results.
- Product descriptions: The descriptions should be clear, compelling, and showcase key features and benefits of the product.
- A+ Content: Sellers eligible to use A+ Content on their product pages (professional sellers enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry), should use it to include extra images, longer descriptions, charts, and more product details.
- Product images: Be sure images follow Amazon's image guidelines, and that they're as large and clear as possible. Sellers should use as many images as Amazon allows, showing products from multiple angles, including lifestyle shots of products in use, and pointing out key benefits/features with text. Create graphic variations to show scale and functionality. Help shoppers to visualize themselves using the products, and clearly differentiate the brand from the competition.
Pro Tip: The main product image can't include multiple angles, lifestyle shots, or text, but subsequent images can be more varied.
- Run the numbers before Prime Day. Sellers should decide which fulfillment method will work best for their needs. Will FBM (fulfillment by merchant) using Seller Fulfilled Prime be a viable option for Prime Day? Amazon’s FBA Calculator can help sellers to compare the costs of FBA versus FBM in order to figure out which one will affect profit margins the most.
Sellers that stick with FBA should double check to make sure that they are not overpaying because some of their inventory sizes are not correct, which can generate additional/higher shipping or storage fees. For example, if a seller has larger products that have not previously sold quickly that require a lot of warehouse space, those products will incur additional long-term storage fees.
Sellers who choose Seller Fulfilled Prime need to consider if they have the staff and how deeply it will bite into profits to pay the extra hours needed for them to quickly fulfill and ship orders, handle customer service requests, returns, etc., during the higher volume days throughout the Prime Day event.
- Use Prime Exclusive Discounts. Attract deal-seeking Prime Day shoppers with Prime Exclusive Discounts (available outside of Prime Day) that make products stand out to increase click-through rate during the event. A Prime Exclusive Discount offers lower prices exclusively to Amazon's Prime subscribers. They will be tagged on Amazon as a ‘Prime Day Deal’.
Product offers with a Prime Exclusive Discount will show a discounted price with the regular price crossed out. Shoppers will also see a savings summary in the search results and on product detail pages. Prices adjusted for discounts are displayed on the Featured Offer detail page for Prime members.
Always remember to weigh profit margins when setting discounts especially when offering sales and coupons that can be combined, which might result in steep savings for shoppers but could cut significantly into Prime Day profits.
There are restrictions on the types of items and kinds of discounts for these deals, and those restrictions are even stricter for Prime Day sales. Sellers should make sure that they are compliant with Amazon’s Eligibility Criteria for Prime Day. Sellers must submit these soon, as the deadline to have discounts submitted for Prime Day is July 8.
- Analyze Day 1 Data and Make Adjustments. Sellers should use the time between the first and second day of the Prime Day event to evaluate day one activity and results, in order to fine-tune their strategies for the rest of the Prime Day period. By monitoring day one activity in real-time, sellers can identify which ads are converting and which are underperforming throughout the entire event and immediately after its official conclusion. Making small adjustments to listings can increase sales and help to ensure a positive ROI from every ad dollar spent.
Pro Tip: Plan to start your promotions about two weeks before Prime Day, allowing you to see how your ads are performing, and adjust if necessary, so you have solid campaigns prepped for Prime Day. Also, by promoting early on your social channels, you have a chance to send out several rounds of reminders to your customers to remember to check out your sales on Prime Day.
- Create High-quality Videos. Creating high-quality videos helps sellers to stand apart from niche competition on Prime Day. Viewing a product video is the closest thing a shopper can have to actually interacting with a seller’s products before buying them. Shoppers who watch product videos on a listing are 3x more likely to purchase the product according to Amazon user-experience data.
- Use Coupons. Offering coupons on Prime Day is a great way for sellers to draw attention to their products, because they display prominently in the search results. Coupon products come with a banner saying ‘coupon’ next to them in the search results, which will catch shoppers' eyes. In addition to coupons that display on the site, sellers can create coupon codes to share on social media channels and to their mailing lists, giving their best customers an extra incentive to seek out their products on Prime Day.
Pro Tip: Sellers should set a reminder to create coupons no later than 2 days before Prime Day, so that the coupons will be live on time. Coupons should also reflect the duration of the offer or savings period.
- Optimize Storefronts (Amazon Stores). Brand-registered sellers should take advantage of Storefronts before Prime Day by creating, if possible, new exclusive versions of their Amazon Storefronts. These Prime Day exclusive versions should contain three pages that showcase featured deals, best-selling products, videos, bundles and have strong USP Prime Day-centric messaging.
Storefronts also give sellers the extra benefit of providing valuable insights that allow them to see shopper behavior, adapt their marketing strategy, and then execute updates that lead to higher conversion rates during Prime Day.
- Use Bundles. Sellers can offer product bundles, which combine complementary products that shoppers may want to purchase together (e.g., a grilling bundle, or gaming bundle). Sellers are able to give Prime Day shoppers a great deal, while potentially generating better margins.
- Increase Ad Budgets. How much sellers can increase their Ad Spend will depend upon their overall budget and goals for Prime Day, but a suggested strategy would be to increase the normal daily campaign budget allocation by two or even three times.
- Cut Prices. Sales don't have to be complicated. They can consist of straightforward price cuts that offer appealing discounts for Amazon bargain hunters. These simple price cuts can create a lot of awareness about a seller’s products during Prime Day, especially from shoppers who watch Amazon price trackers. Once again, sellers should be attentive to their profit margins and Amazon's increased FBA fees, in order to ensure that they're still making a profit.
Pro Tip: Don't overlook off-Amazon sales. Sell products through other retailers and distribution channels, or on your own website, offering discounts in these locations as well. Prime Day shoppers don't limit themselves to Amazon. Remember to track your off-Amazon traffic and conversions with Amazon Attribution.
By extending your promotions to other distribution channels you increase the odds of shopper discovery and additional sales during the Prime Day event.
Bonus Tip:
Automate Pricing to Stay Competitive. Amazon's automated pricing tool will adjust sellers’ prices based on rules that they set up beforehand, so they can be competitive and win the Featured Offer box, despite the heavy price competition during the Prime Day period. Sellers set up specific pricing rules for each of their products and can adjust or remove them whenever they want.
There's no perfect strategy that works for every Amazon seller when it comes to advertising for Prime Day and beyond. Discovering an exact formula for consistently converting shoppers takes time and effort and can often mean working with an experienced team of Amazon advertising experts.
If you are not satisfied and want to improve the performance of your ads, Entourage Management Services can work with you to create an end-to-end advertising roadmap designed for your unique needs and sales goals.
Entourage: Software to Scale Amazon Ads and Results Driven Management.
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