Stella Rising's Prime Day Playbook: Drive Record Sales for Your Brand

WHAT WE KNOW

While the actual dates will likely be announced within the week, the past two Prime Day events have taken place the second Tuesday and Wednesday of July. If this holds true for 2024, the anticipated dates are Tuesday, July 9^th- Wednesday, July 10^th.

For Sellers, the deadline for FBA inventory to reach Amazon fulfillment centers was June 20th. This deadline is typically four weeks before Prime Day, suggesting Amazon may be shifting the event dates this year to the third week of July: Tuesday, July 16th - Wednesday, July 17th.

PROMOTION TYPES TO CONSIDER

Vendors and Sellers should consider an enticing discount for Prime Day promotions to set their discounts apart from other brands. As the minimum discount is 20% off, we recommend deeper discounts of 25-30% off for the Prime Day period. Lower prices, understandably, shape consumer decisions: 71% of Amazon customers look for products with the lowest price.

While the deadline for Best Deals and Lightning Deals has passed, the below promotion options are still available to submit:

• Prime Exclusive Discount: Can be submitted in real time
  • Duration: 48 Hours
  • Sellers or Vendors? Sellers
  • Restrictions Include: Min. 20% discount off the basis price; must match/beat lowest price in last 30 days, product must have at least an average 4-star rating
  • Badging: Receives Prime Day badging and merchandising
  • Fee: No Fee
• Prime Member Coupon: Can be submitted in real time
  • Duration: Custom to what is selected
  • Sellers or Vendors? Both Vendors & Sellers have access to coupons
  • Restrictions Include: Min. 20% discount off current price; customer Segment targeting must be set to Amazon Prime
  • Badging: Coupons do not receive badging on Prime Day
  • Fee: Promotional budget + $0.60/redemption fee per unit sold

These discount strategies can significantly boost visibility and sales during this extremely (!) high-traffic event.

PRODUCTS TO CONSIDER WHEN SELECTING PRIME DAY PROMOTIONS

The recommended approach when selecting products for Prime Day includes:

• Best Sellers
• New Products to build awareness
• Kits to encourage high average sale price products for promotion
• High stock items/ slower sellers to move through inventory

ENSURE YOUR PRODUCTS ARE FULLY IN-STOCK

While selecting your Prime Day assortment, pick items that will not have any supply issues in the weeks to come. For Sellers, the June 20^th deadline was key, while Vendors will need to submit Born To Run Orders if their weeks of coverage fall below 8 WOC before the event to be prepared for the surge of traffic. Sellers will also need to keep the new Low-Inventory-Level Fee in mind per unit sold of any items with less than 28 days of supply on hand at Amazon. Because traffic is at an all-time high, it is crucial to make sure that the full catalog is in stock, not just the items on discount as customers will consider your full assortment to add to their carts. Products featured in Lightning Deals or Best Deals will receive an exception on low inventory fees through the Prime Day period for the uncertainty of the stock levels that the event will bring.

ENSURE YOUR DETAIL PAGES ARE IN TOP SHAPE

Before the lead in period of the event, brands will want to ensure that product detail pages are in the best shape possible for products they wish to promote.

Brands can utilize Amazon’s A/B experiment tool to test A+ Content, titles, bullet points, images and now brand story to determine which content converts at a higher rate and choose the winning option for Prime Day.

Brands will want to ensure these aspects of the detail page are ready for the event:

• Optimized titles, bullet points and back-end key words, utilizing Amazon character count maximums and strong keyword research
• 6-7 Product Images that showcase the benefits and key features of the product for consumer education with enticing graphics
• Product Video on the carousel
  

  • PDP videos can improve conversion up to 5x

• At least 20 reviews with an average rating of 4-stars or more

• • 64% of consumers are influenced by products with the best ratings and reviews
• Enticing A+ Content and a Brand Story for further consumer education; this especially will set your product apart from competitors
• • Premium A+ Content includes newer modules for brands to further educate customers on products including a regimen carousel, video, FAQ module, and hotspot modules
  • A+ Content can help improve conversion up to 20%

IMPROVE CONSUMERS’ EXPERIENCE WITH A LANDING PAGE

Once your Prime Day assortment is selected, a brand store landing page is recommended so shoppers can easily see promoted items. We also recommend directing sponsored brand advertisements to the landing page. Vendors and Sellers need to follow Amazon guidelines for store banners to be compliant: find them here.

PLAN A HOLISTIC STRATEGY

Once dates are released, plan a holistic strategy with not just Prime Day in mind, but the lead-up and lead-out periods, too.

Before the event: understand that increased competition can result in higher CPCs. We recommend ramping up advertising spend two weeks before the event starts to help gain exposure to product offerings. Aim to build awareness on product detail pages while traffic is at an all-time high.

After the Event: In the lead-out period, Seller Central brands have the option of running a Brand Tailored Promotion that will catch any procrastinators with a discounted coupon; we have the option to target only those who have considered purchasing and have added the product to their carts but missed the deadline. The tool also now allows you to target specific products for the promotion as opposed to the entire catalog.

Amazon Sponsored Brand ads now have a new carousel feature that allows you to alternate up to five images in your sponsored brand campaigns. This carousel allows brands to tell their story in a more creative way than ever before and looks even more enticing than a traditional sponsored brand ad.

Directing traffic off Amazon through press and PR, social media, and email marketing makes a huge impact for our client brands. Stella Rising can create an attribution link for each off-Amazon strategy that directly links to Amazon to measure performance. Attribution links also save sellers up to 10% on FBA fees for every product purchased.

Amazon Posts is a free tool for brands to engage with their Amazon customers and increase impressions of their products. Amazon Posts is Amazon’s version of Instagram and a space to post lifestyle images and now, newer to the tool, videos that tag the corresponding products and displays on relevant product pages for visibility. I recommend posting the products that will be featured in the sale the week before and week of the event.

Happy Prime Day and may the odds ever be in your favor!