Amazon Prime Day: Trends & Last-Minute Tips - Episode 193

DESCRIPTION

This week on the Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, we’re sharing with you a solo episode with Kiri Masters. You’ll get some great insights about the Prime Day challenges and trends of 2021, as well as some last-minute tips for the event.

Want to know more about Prime Day's major themes such as inventory, PPC, promotion strategies, and social media? You’re in the right place! Tune in to find out more!

“Amazon always goes on a big media blitz to promote Prime Day. Everyone knows about it. Customers are going to be there of their own volition. But it’s always a good return to use your email list and social media channels to promote your deals. Most people will appreciate being in the loop on that and knowing that they’re going to be able to get a deal.”

— Kiri Masters

KEY TAKEAWAYS

This is another year for a shaky inventory position - Amazon ratcheted down inventory limits for many sellers. As such, many merchants are planning to ‘merchant fulfill’ some items. This is not an ideal situation because these items aren't eligible for Prime.
“If multiple ASINs are a priority, sending in smaller FBA shipments more frequently is the way to go. If a large shipment gets lost or delayed, this could really set you back a long time. Smaller shipments mean less risk and this generally equates to better account health.” - explains Bobsled's Team Lead Armin Alispahic.
If a brand has the ability to FBM, this involves a simple flick of a switch. However, you want to make sure that you keep close tabs on any ASINs that have the potential to sell out of FBA inventory during Prime Day.
Amazon PPC cost-per-click rates go up drastically the moment Prime Day kicks off due to the extreme amount of competition within the marketplace. However, the retargeting capability of Amazon DSP and Sponsored Display ads can be an absolute gamechanger. Brands can utilize these ad types to get your brand and product line front of mind in the remaining days before Prime Day officially commences. This brand recognition should translate to more sales once the event kicks off.
A carousel of deals within a 60-day window will allow advertisers to target shoppers who have already viewed your product detail pages.
Some merchants try to reduce their ad spend over Prime Day with the logic that shoppers are going to be shopping anyway. At Bobsled we have tracked the outcomes of clients who have had varied appetites for ad spend or promotions.
Sponsored brands Video is a pretty new ad type. We have seen there can better result from low-fi production compared with high-budget, slick production. Part of the reason these perform well is that there is only 1 single placement on search results, so it grabs people’s attention. We have seen great metrics with this ad type compared with others. As in, higher conversion rate.
The Bobsled project team typically favors Prime Exclusive Discounts (PEDs) during Prime Day as they look great in SERP and there are no fees associated with running them. If a brand is forced to do FBM, flash sales and coupons are the only options.
Flash Sale might be the better promo if your Prime Day discount will be your lowest price in the last 30 days. There's a chance you will get a red badge that really stands out in SERP and on the product page.
In 2020, one of our project managers, Jordan Ripley saw all of his top-performing clients run full catalog PEDs of 20%, 30%, and 50% respectively and saw crazy DoD sales multiples (5-10X). This was only the second year that PEDs were available. PEDs have equivalently good SERP/PDP merchandising for Prime customers as a Lightning Deal.
Amazon always goes big with a media blitz to promote the Prime Day retail holiday. It’s safe to assume that a large segment of your brand’s customer base may be anticipating a hot Prime Day deal.
Using your email list and social media channels to send traffic to Amazon will give you a huge advantage over competitor brands that are only trying to compete for clicks within the Amazon marketplace. According to many Bobsled clients, social media was the biggest driver for Prime Day sales over the last couple of years.
Bobsled’s Team Lead Armin found that clients that decided to bring off-Amazon traffic did amazingly well: up to 10x MoM for one client.