If you use the internet (which obviously you do) then you remember Amazon Prime Day from last year. Well the joyous day comes early this year on Tuesday, July 12th. However, you may also remember how last year’s Prime Day was regarded as a bit of a disappointment and a general “WTF” type moment for consumers. Many of the deals were set around cheap accessory products and the best ones were out of stock in no time. Critics called the day a stunt for Amazon to clear old inventory out in a big way.
Nevertheless, Amazon Prime Day was big for eCommerce as a whole. Amazon sales shot up 93% that day and the retail giant reported that transactions far exceeded their Black Friday sales of that year. Traffic on eCommerce sites outside of Amazon also surged. Conversions increased 16% on average. That could be the result of consumers discovering Amazon deals they liked, but were out of stock and then turning to other sites for the same product. Or perhaps the event just drove that many curious spectators online who got in the spending mood.
Either way means Amazon’s Prime Day could be growing into something more meaningful for eCommerce as a whole. Here is what we can expect to see this year on and off Amazon:
Prime Day can’t survive long term if Amazon doesn’t position some higher quality products and regarded brands on the front line this year. Hopefully we’ll be seeing less of the white labeled selfie sticks and lighter sleeves, but more big brand names and quality made products.
Amazon is making big pushes for their sellers to enhance their content right now. Primarily because Amazon can take a bigger cut for the service of allowing more and more high quality content in and around product listings. This year Amazon is going to push more of the content heavy products to the deals front lines since those products convert better and to further prove the A+ content model. In the coming years we will probably see Amazon allowing sellers to distribute content specific to Prime Day in the way of additional content on the product page, Amazon promotions, off-site ads, etc.
eCommerce stores all around the web know Prime Day means more traffic and revenue for them too. So we are going to be seeing more deals pop up around the web on Prime Day as the consumer masses are out in full force. The pack typically follows the leader so in the future we can expect Prime Day to evolve into more of a Cyber Monday type event where more eCommerce brands are promoting their own deals for the special day.
This Tuesday will be an interesting second run for the behemoth boasting over 100,000 different deals. If you are an Amazon or B2C eCommerce seller this is an opportunity to test the waters for a potential new internet-wide deal day and push content in front of new eyes. If you’re just looking to snag a good deal this Tuesday then we wish you the best of luck, internet traveler.
Charlie Rall is the Co-Founder and Head Producer of StoryCraft
