Amazon Prime Day is the biggest shopping holiday of the year in the United States. Over 30% of Americans are expected to shop on Prime Day this year with an estimated $12+ billion in sales during this 48-hour period alone. With such a high potential for sales, it's no wonder that eCommerce brands are seeking ways to capitalize on this opportunity by using Amazon Prime Day as a way to drive purchases and increase brand awareness among shoppers. Here are five tips eCommerce brands can use to leverage Amazon Prime Day and drive more purchases from their audiences: Know the Deals Brands often use the same deals multiple years in a row. You can learn from their approach by researching what has historically worked or hasn’t worked for them and then apply it to your own business. Rather than coming up with all of the data points from scratch, you can leverage public competitor data to your advantage by knowing which products are most likely to sell well at certain prices, when they should be sold, etc. You can also look at what other people are selling and use that to inform your own decision-making. If you notice that a competitor is selling something in a certain price range, consider doing the same thing—or even beat them if you can! It’s up to you if you want to follow the crowd or blaze your own trail but understanding the competitive environment will make sure there are no surprises. Limited Time Offers Scarcity marketing is a strategy where sellers limit the supply of their products, whether it be through limited inventory or a specific time frame, to motivate urgency to purchase. Amazon Prime Day is inherently a scarcity marketing tactic because it’s only available on Amazon Prime Day(s). In order to compete with Prime Day buyers, it’s important to create competitive discounting to draw some of those customers away from Amazon’s discounted deals. If you can create time-based artificial scarcity around a product on Prime Day (e.g., the discount is only available for 2 days), then do it! It will drive sales and make customers feel like they need to act fast or else lose out on the opportunity altogether. You can also use this technique during regular eCommerce days by setting up notifications that tell people when certain products will be gone forever (or until a certain date). Competitive Shipping Times and Visibility Amazon ships about 1.6 million packages a day, carving out its spot as the standard in regard to the eCommerce buyer’s journey. It’s important to not only have competitive shipping times but also to provide transparency on when customers can expect their deliveries to help meet those customer expectations. In fact, FenixCommerce found that online sellers that implement their AI-powered platform to generate anticipated arrival dates based on real data collected by Amazon shipping partners like UPS/FedEx/USPS have increased conversions by up to 40%. If you want loyal customers who will keep coming back for more business year after year, satisfying their expectations is key. One study found that almost 70% of consumers “are much less or less likely to shop with a retailer in the future if an item they purchased is not delivered within two days of the date promised.” It’s essential to invest in delivery management software like FenixCommerce to provide timely, cost-effective, and transparent deliveries to build brand loyalty and drive consistent purchases. Cost-Effective Shipping Shipping costs are one of the biggest reasons that consumers abandon their carts. While it can be exceptionally difficult to determine the exact cost of shipping from point A to point B, take advantage of digital platforms, like FenixCommerce, that have built massive proprietary databases of relevant shipping data to make it easier on eCommerce sellers! Not only can their platform understand how much to expect in shipping costs but it can optimize your distribution channels to bring those costs down. Remember, buyers will be comparing all brand/product experiences to that of Amazon’s. If sellers outside of the Amazon ecosystem are exorbitantly more expensive to buy from due to shipping costs, they’ll default to the already intriguing Prime Day deals. Consistent Customer Acquisition Messaging People are primed (for lack of a better word) to buy on Amazon Prime Day. Similar to Hotelling’s Law in Game Theory, buyers are already looking for great deals and are prepared to spend money. This means you need to make sure that you’re leaning on all marketing channels you’ve found success with in the past- this includes anything from organic to SEM to social media marketing and email campaigns. The most important aspect of messaging is consistency. While it may be tempting to change up the way you promote your Amazon Prime Day deals, A/B testing messaging in such a short time frame will be all but statistically significant (unless you’re pumping money in). If a buyer sees your 20% limited-time discount on Meta (or whatever you call Facebook nowadays) and then sees that you’re offering a 20% discount until the end of the year in your email newsletter, the buyer is not only left confused about which is true but also will feel like there is a better deal they don’t know about. This type of confusion can lead to buyers to decision fatigue and, in turn, stagnation. To inspire purchases during this time period, simply promote your sale through all channels at once! Conclusion By implementing these tips, eCommerce sellers will be able to leverage the next Prime Day to get products in front of more customers and drive more purchases. It's easy to fall into the frenzy but, if you can keep your eyes on the big picture, there are plenty of ways to make sure your promotions don't fall through the cracks! If you’re interested in learning more about how FenixCommerce can increase Prime Day shopper traffic conversions by 40% and shipping profits by more than 50%, please reach out! Our industry experts are happy to consult any growing brands with a free consultation to understand your individual needs so that you can maximize profits.
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