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When is Prime Day 2022?
At the time of writing, Amazon hasn’t yet announced Prime Day dates for 2022 although it has released deadlines for Deal and Inventory submissions ranging from April to June. There is much speculation that Prime Day will return to its usual pre-pandemic slot in mid-July, so it’s definitely time to get ready.
Tip: Check Vendor Central today for Prime Day deadlines in your market.
What will be the biggest challenge for brands this year?
We expect that continued disruption to the supply chain will cast a long shadow over the 48-hour shopping spree for many brands. Amazon has laid out a clear message about how brands should allow for disruption when meeting inventory deadlines:
“Other factors that can affect the timelines of your shipment include logistics, weather, customs clearance, and carrier-related issues. Be sure to consider these factors when sending shipments, to ensure that they arrive at the correct fulfilment center in a timely manner without affecting subsequent listing and sales.” - Amazon Vendor Central
Tip: We advise you to take heed as it is unlikely Amazon will accept excuses!
Top Tips for Prime Day 2022 pricing and promotion strategies
Which products should I promote?
Usually, during Prime Day, we’d expect to see a mix of seasonal lines, Best Sellers and old stock on promotion. This year, the decision on what and when to promote will likely be influenced by two driving factors: the availability of your products and that of their competitors.
Tip: Gaining intelligence on your competitors’ stock levels now and setting alerts for when their hero products are running low might give you an early indication of the products they will be unable to promote, allowing your brand the opportunity of becoming the best available alternative.
What information will help inform my pricing strategy?
When it comes to pricing, it is still worth looking into trends across the category last year for learnings that you can apply today, although 2022’s Prime Day pricing strategies might throw out some surprises as competitors try to counter recent hikes in costs.
Tip: It might be useful to look at competitors' recent pricing and promotions to see how they are countering cost increases now: whether that’s by simply increasing the price, or reducing promotions, perhaps adjusting pack weight and size. This will help to form your own competitive strategy.
When should I run my promotion?
Deciding when to run promotions will be tricky this year too; can you afford the same depth of promotion as last year at the same time? Could you offer more aggressive pricing if you ran your promotion before or after the main event? Amazon’s price-matching can also prove a problem as you will need to avoid being price-matched against your own products on other retail sites when depth of promotion varies from channel to channel.
Tip: Ensure your Amazon promotions are coordinated with promotions on other channels to avoid price-matching.
How can I protect my Buy Box?
Running promotions before the event will help boost your search rank, leaving you in a great place for organic traffic during the event itself and give you a better conversion rate before the events have kicked off, although it comes with an element of risk. 3P sellers are potentially able to buy out your stock on promotion, win your Buy Box, then use the advantage to sell your products at a higher price during the main event.
Tip: If you are promoting early, or if you have concerns about availability make sure you have a strategy in place that ensures another product in your portfolio is positioned as the best available alternative should your hero product run out of stock. You can achieve this by creating a pay per click ad for your second tier product on the page of the hero product that sells out.
And don’t forget about bundles…
One sure-fire way of increasing sales is to offer bundles. Bundles allow you to create Amazon-exclusive products, they entice shoppers as value deals and they will fall outside the price-matching radar.
Tip: Make sure bundles arrive at the fulfilment center already bundled!
