Should your business be preparing for Amazon Prime Day 2021?

After several delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, Amazon has finally announced that its big Prime Day event will be taking place from 13-14 October.

Unfortunately this isn’t much of a heads up for Amazon sellers, who usually benefit from increased consumer spending during the event.

However, there are still a few steps your business could take to make the most of Amazon Prime Day 2020 and to get ahead of the game for 2021.
 

What is Amazon Prime Day?

In 2015 Amazon introduced Prime Day, offering members of its Prime subscription service deals on thousands of products across many different categories.

In the five years since its inception Prime Day has rapidly growth to become Amazon’s biggest sales event of the year, surpassing Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined in 2019.

In 2019 Prime Day saw shoppers across 18 countries purchase more than 175 million items over a span of 48 hours.

But more importantly for Amazon sellers is the fact that 2019’s Prime Day generated over $2 billion in revenue for third-party sellers. Some sellers reported sales increases of anywhere between 23% and 200%.
 

2020’s Prime Day could be the biggest yet, a sign of things to come

Amazon Prime Day has been showing consistent growth year-on-year, a trend that looks to be turbocharged in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Unfortunately the economic fallout from the pandemic means that many families are facing a loss of income this year, and as a result there may be increased appetite for deals which could help them save money.

The prospect of more economic uncertainty to come could also see many consumers bring forward their Christmas purchases this year, with Prime Day offering a perfect opportunity to do so.

This mood will be supported by the general changes to consumer shopping habits brought about by the global coronavirus pandemic, with recent data showing that the long-term trend towards ecommerce accelerated sharply in 2020.

Amazon has benefitted from this shift perhaps more than any other platform, with 71% of US consumers reportedly purchasing items from the site during the pandemic and 48% of consumers using Amazon more frequently than before the pandemic.

Data has also suggested that the switch to online shopping is permanent for most consumers, indicating that Prime Day could continue its impressive growth into 2021 and beyond.
 

How can online sellers make the most of Prime Day?

There are a number of steps sellers can take to make the most of Amazon Prime Day, but arguably the most important is to make sure that your listings are optimised for conversion and will stand out against a sea of competition.

Leveraging your social media channels and some strategic spending on ads could be one way to stand out and help drive traffic to your listings.

As previously mentioned many consumers may be hurting financially in 2020, so offering clear value will be even more essential this year and the products you choose to promote should reflect this.

Third party sellers who want their listings to be included in Prime Day’s lightning deals will also need to ensure they are eligible and submit an application.

Also be sure to make sure you are prepared to handle a greater volume of sales – consider your inventory levels and potential logistical challenges if you are not shipping products through FBA.

Finally, if you are selling internationally you should also consider how you will repatriate your profits or settle invoices with overseas suppliers.

A reputable currency provider can help you secure more competitive exchange rates, cut the costs of transfer fees and streamline the management of your international sales revenue.  
 
While there’s limited time to prepare for this year’s Amazon Prime Day, the work you put in now can still set you up for success in 2021 – so get planning!

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