Prime Day Prep And Post-Prime Analysis

LAS VEGAS – Amazon revealed its July 11-12 Prime Day time window earlier this month, and it’s not too late for Amazon sellers to take steps to position their brand for success. As a full-service Amazon marketplace consulting agency, Prosper exhibitor Channel Key will be working with sellers through Prime Day (and beyond) to maximize sales.

Brian Martinez, vice president of Client Services at Channel Key calls Prime Day the most important online shopping event of the summer. Data collected during the event can shape strategies going forward, but only if you’re doing the right analysis.

Prosper sat down with Martinez to talk about what can still be done in the relatively short amount of time until Prime Day. Perhaps more importantly, Martinez hints at the types of trends that sellers should analyze in the post-Prime days, leading inevitably to the holiday shopping season.

Prosper: How important is Prime Day for Amazon sellers?

Martinez: Prime Day has become the most important online shopping event of the summer. You can measure the current pulse of retail by analyzing the activity of shoppers and brands during Prime Day.

Prosper: What types of markers warrant close attention?

Martinez: If you run deals and promotions, pay attention to which performs the best. Be sure to watch how your competitors promote their products as well. If some of your offers underperform, it could be because your discounts weren’t low enough or your CPC bids weren’t high enough. Collect as much information as you can during Prime Day – both what went well and what went wrong. Use Prime Day as an opportunity to identify what changes you need to make for Fall Prime Day and the holiday shopping season, which are right around the corner.

Prosper: What can still be done in the days leading up to July 11?

Martinez: Use the days leading up to Prime Day to build anticipation about your upcoming deals. By now, you should know what products you plan to promote and how you will promote them. Teasing these offers on your DTC website, email marketing, and social media channels is a great way to build awareness among your existing customers. You should also use this time to plan how you will drive these shoppers to your product detail pages during the event.

Prosper: What types of messaging rules apply?

Martinez: Amazon prohibits Prime Day messaging in ads running on its marketplace, but you can use it on ads that run off the platform if they include an official Prime Day deal linking back to Amazon. The more external traffic you can drive to your Prime Day offers, the more sales you will generate.

Prosper: What is the biggest misconception about Prime Day?

Martinez: One of the biggest misconceptions about Prime Day is assuming every brand should invest in it. Prime Day has become an extremely competitive event. Some of the most recognizable brands in the world now sell on Amazon, and they have big advertising budgets.

Prosper: How can sellers stand out?

Martinez: To stand out during Prime Day, you need to offer steep discounts and increase your ad spend, which might not be worth it for brands that are new to the platform. If your products are not retail-ready with optimized content and positive reviews, you’ll struggle to make sales. Even established brands should only promote top-selling products with a high search volume, high-profit margin, and enough inventory to support their ad spend during Prime Day.

Prosper: How much progress can still be made to prepare for Prime Day

Martinez: Prime Day 2023 is almost here, but there are still steps you can take to position your brand for success. One of the most important things you can do is ensure your catalog is retail ready. This means your product detail pages include all the necessary information that a customer needs to make a purchase. It makes no sense to waste money promoting products that have little chance of converting.

Now is the time to review your product listings and ensure they are fully optimized. Be sure to include the most important keywords in your product titles, utilize all available bullet points, and include additional keywords and phrases. Upload high-resolution images, include up-to-date A+ content, and create a page on your Store devoted to your Prime Day offers.

Prosper: What’s your level of optimism for the remainder of the year?

Martinez: We’re confident that retail sales for the remainder of the year will remain relatively strong. Unemployment is expected to rise slightly over the next few months, but it won’t be enough to make any meaningful impact—especially during the holidays.

According to eMarketer, total retail spending will rise 4.5% to $1.3 trillion for the 2023 holiday shopping season. With Amazon accounting for about 38% of all retail e-commerce sales in the U.S., brands that sell on Amazon should feel optimistic about the next six months.

Prosper: What were the main concerns among attendees who visited your booth at Prosper 2023?

Martinez: We had a great experience interacting with various sellers and partners at Prosper. The range of discussions we found related to new sellers trying to get started selling on Amazon, to more sophisticated sellers who had very specific and nuanced challenges—to new service providers educating us on how they are helping the seller community.

Prosper: Why are in-person trade shows still important?

Martinez: Meeting face-to-face with prospects, clients, and partners is crucial for building relationships. At trade shows you can meet people one-on-one and build meaningful relationships that help take your business to the next level.

Las Vegas-based Channel Key is an award-winning full-service Amazon marketplace consulting agency that provides turnkey services, including marketplace strategy, brand awareness, revenue growth, profitability analysis, new product launches, 1P/3P transitions, operational health, marketing, advertising, content creation, optimization, reporting, analytics, and more. Channel Key exhibited at Prosper 2023 in Las Vegas. The next Prosper is scheduled for March 13-15, 2023 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.