Day 1 of Amazon’s promotional extravaganza is in the books. And per Amazon’s annual mantra, it is “offering more Prime Day deals than ever before.” From what we observed on Day 1, the retail behemoth came packed with not only some pretty steep deals, but a new bag of tricks for 2023 as well, including: Prime Day Invite-Only Deals; personalized deal pages; Buy with Prime discounts on participating brand sites; and more.
Some challenger brands chose to participate on Prime Day through the ‘Buy with Prime’ program
And, it’s not just about Amazon anymore. Other leading retailers, like Walmart and Target in the U.S., and the U.K.’s Tesco and Boots, continue to host their own events. This way they leverage the online traffic generated by Amazon Prime Day, as well as consumers’ propensity to spend, to their advantage.
It’s a win-win-win for brands, retailers, and especially shoppers — if great deals are in the offing and they’re willing to open their pocketbooks. One of the hardest parts now for brands is choosing where to place their bets during what’s become a huge midsummer retail event.
We unbox it for you here, highlighting our top observations from Day 1 of Prime Day.
1. Amazon shoppers awake to personalized deals pages
It’s no secret that Amazon has been experimenting with generative artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to deliver more meaningful and personalized shopping experiences. This came to life on Prime Day as shoppers logged in and saw personalized deal pages based on their past purchases, searches, and viewing history.
When not logged into an Amazon account, shoppers saw a rather generic-looking Prime Day landing page instead, with the deals-by-category “horizontal bar” used in past years, as well as some featured deals, not too surprisingly with Amazon private label products front and center.
‘Generic’ Prime Day deals page
Example of Prime Day deals page for active Amazon shopper
So what? What does it mean for brands?
It’s more important than ever to get on the shopper’s radar screen well in advance of big shopping events like Prime Day in order to score a spot on Amazon’s personalized deal pages. This means investing in new shopper acquisition strategies, or at least ways to get into a shopper’s search results. How? Investing in SEO optimization and / or Retail Media (e.g., sponsored products or banners) to be visible on page 1 of search results; Being priced right or running promotions to encourage product trial (conversion); Increasing your ratings & reviews, which play a big role in purchase decisions.
2. Bigger CPG brand presence than in previous years
Across 15 categories* studied on Amazon.com, our research found that 38% of Page 1 category listings, on average, were on deal on Day 1 of Prime Day. In the UK, that figure is even higher with an average of 43% of Page 1 listings** on deal.
One category in particular caught our attention this year: Everyday Household Essentials (e.g., cleaning & laundry supplies and household paper products).
Major household brands, including Church & Dwight (Arm & Hammer; OxiClean); Clorox (Glad); P&G (Mr. Clean); and SC Johnson (Shout; Windex; Ziploc), certainly seem to have more skin in the game on Amazon.com in the U.S. on Prime Day 2023.
Household Essentials, like cleaning products, have a strong presence on Amazon.com this Prime Day
According to our data, products in the Household Essentials category were promoted at an average discount of 24% off on Day 1 of Prime Day.
In contrast, this category remains MIA in other Amazon markets, e.g., Germany and the U.K., so far on Prime Day.
Some Clorox-owned products were discounted by as much as 40% on Amazon.com this Prime Day
So what? What does it mean for brands?
If you’re a CPG brand that didn’t play on Prime Day this year, you should give serious consideration to stepping up your game during future events. It will take some planning; it will take some budget. But it could be worth your while, if not as an offensive move — to gain new customers and market share — than as a defensive one. We noted plenty of instances where brands choosing to sit on the sidelines were getting conquested by competitors (see #3 below).
* U.S. categories analyzed include: Activity & Fitness Trackers; Baby Care; Beauty & Personal Care; Beverages; Building Toys; Diapering; Dishwashers; Laundry Supplies; Pet Supplies; Premium Beauty; Ranges, Ovens & Cooktops; Refrigerators, Freezers & Ice Makers; Small Kitchen Appliances; Snacks & Sweets; and Toys
**U.K. categories analyzed include: Baby & toddler toys, Beauty, Beer, wine & spirits, Building & construction toys, Drinks, Games & game accessories, Headphones, Health & Baby care, Home care and cleaning, Ovens & hobs, Pet supplies, Premium beauty, Refrigerators, freezers & ice makers, Skin care, Small kitchen appliances
3. Conquesting strategies were out in force on Prime Day
During huge seasonal events, like Prime Day or Black Friday, brands must take a hands-on-keyboard approach and be ready to pivot as needed to protect your brand. The last thing you want is significantly investing in a promotional campaign only to have it stymied because your brand keywords get conquested by a competitor. We saw this happen more than a few times on Prime Day.
Let’s take a look:
Examples of brand domination, where the brand, in addition to investing in Prime Day deals, leverages Retail Media to own the banner and sponsored placement, not giving competitors the opportunity to steal its brand keywords. Two examples of excellent execution: L’Oreal in Beauty; Kraft Heinz in Food.
L’Oreal dominates its brand keywords on Amazon.com in the U.S.
Kraft Heinz dominates its brand keywords on Amazon in the U.K.
Examples of brand conquesting, where a competitor’s brand is buying space (banner ads, sponsored product placement, etc.) on a page you should own.
Melitta conquests Siemens brand keywords with a sponsored banner on Amazon in the U.K.
IT Cosmetics being conquested by Clarins and Murad on Amazon.com in the U.S. on Prime Day
So what? What does it mean for brands?
Protect your keywords at all costs. Whether this means constant monitoring of your own brand and relevant generic keywords on Prime Day, either internally or by your agency partner, it’s imperative that you do it. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your Prime Day investment.
4. Influencers played a big role again this year
Generally speaking, Influencer Marketing is a way brands generate product awareness and drive traffic to their product detail pages (PDPs) on Amazon.
On Prime Day, using influencers is one way to convert new shoppers and drive incrementality.
In addition to social media (Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, etc.) and the Amazon Live streaming program, influencers have a new tool this year to help direct shoppers to Prime Day deals: Amazon’s ‘Inspiration tab.’
Only available on Amazon’s mobile app, the “lightbulb” on the bottom navigation bar directs shoppers to Amazon’s “Inspire” page, currently dubbed “Prime Day Inspiration” for the big event. A wide range of products are being promoted by influencers there.
Influencer Marketing examples using ‘Inspire Tab’ on Amazon.com
So what? What does it mean for brands?
Working with influencers to shine a light on your product and deals could be worth exploring. But like anything new, Test & Learn is the name of the game for brands when it comes to awareness-building and traffic-driving tactics used during big promotional events like Prime Day. Whether you trial the use of influencers or a program like Amazon Live, it’s important to track what works and what doesn’t with a data analytics solution.
5. ‘Prime Day’ is THE midsummer sales event, and not just for Amazon
In 2015, it was Amazon Prime Day — a celebration of Amazon's 20th anniversary. Today, in its 9th iteration, the midsummer classic has expanded industry wide to include the likes of Walmart+ Week and Target Circle Week (yes, full weeks), and Best Buy’s Black Friday in July in the U.S. In the U.K., it’s Boots’ Epic Prime Time Deals and Argos’ 50th Birthday Party this year, among others. And everyone's competing for share of wallet.
Interestingly, it looks like some brands are choosing where to play and where not to. Hair care brand Olaplex is a good example. It’s promoting a bundled shampoo and conditioner set for $39.98 (33% off the regular retail price) on Walmart during Walmart+ Week. The same Olaplex bundle retails for $60.00 on Amazon.com for Prime Day 2023, i.e., no deal.
Walmart came to play, with some brands offering steep discounts for Walmart+ Week vs. Amazon Prime Day
One of the better stories floating around on Day 1 of Prime Day is the shopper who purchased a Blackstone outdoor cooking station on deal for $296 on Amazon.com only to find a better deal on Walmart just hours later. It happens that Walmart is offering a near identical Blackstone item, but comes with a hard cover for just $1.00 more ($297 total price). Amazon purchase canceled; Walmart curbside pickup on.
Moral of the story: It pays to shop around. And indeed that’s exactly what savvy shoppers have grown accustomed to doing, especially during big seasonal events like Prime Day and Black Friday / Cyber 5.
Amazon.com (top) and Walmart (bottom) go toe to toe on this Blackstone cooking station sale price
So what? What does it mean for brands?
Brands must take a close look at channel proliferation and how you’re setting yourself up to grow. This often means getting tighter on your “where to play” choices: Where are you going to play? Where do you want to win?
Specific to midsummer promotional extravaganza widely known as ‘Prime Day’ (including the broad brush events like Walmart+ Week and Target Circle Week), which retailers do you want to bet on?
It may come down to demographics. It may come down to retailer/vendor relationships, e.g., doing business with people vs. algorithms. It may come down to whether your products better align with the click & collect / local home delivery model of brick-and-mortar stores or the national shipping model of pure play eComm. It’s important brands weigh all these factors when deciding where to play on Prime Day.
On to Day 2!
