How to Prepare for a Successful Prime Day
What is Prime Day?
Along with Black Friday, Amazon Prime Day is one of the biggest days of the year for Amazon sellers. This two-day sale offers exclusive deals to Amazon Prime shoppers leading to one of the most competitive and active-selling days for both online shoppers and retailers. While the exact days haven’t been confirmed by Amazon, it is expected to take place in June. To help you make the most of Prime Day, we’ve put together a list of tips to help you get ready.
1. Prepare and Do Your Research
Half the battle of Prime day is making sure you have everything prepared before the sale goes live. Marketing plays an important role here. Make sure you let shoppers know ahead of time. Start spreading the word through email and social media campaigns. The earlier they know, the more likely they’ll shop your products on Prime Day.
It’s also important to do your research on what products are selling. The last thing you want is to source a product that you think will sell, only to have it sit on the shelves. Some good resources here are digital & print media, deal websites, and social media.
2. Make Sure you Have Enough Inventory
Once you’ve decided on your products, make sure you order enough inventory to be able to fulfill your Prime Day orders. It’s also important to keep track of your inventory and pricing along with your competitors. If the product isn’t selling as expected, consider lowering the price. Has the competition sold through their stock and you’re the only offer listed? Assuming the demand is still high, a price increase can help make your sales more profitable. While finding the balance between over and under stocking can be difficult, ensuring you have enough to cover the holiday demand can help you capture sales that competitors are unable to fulfill.
3. Optimize your Listings
Once you have your products in place, it’s time to optimize your listings. Amazon is a highly product-focused marketplace. While the offer helps, it’s the product page that closes the sale. Make sure your listing has the right SEO keywords, product details and A+ content (if applicable).
In addition, your product images should be optimized for conversion. Study the top-selling products on Amazon and model your images similarly. The main image should be the product only on a white background, but the other should explain the key features of your product. These images are the first look shoppers get at your product, some don’t even make it to the bullet points or description. Grab their attention with lifestyle images or of the product in use with clear and concise key features. Another option is to utilize 360-degree or product videos. These add another layer to the product and help shoppers visualize themselves with the product.
4. Secure your Order Fulfillment
Amazon currently offers two options for fulfillment: Freight by Amazon (FBA) or Freight by Merchant (FBM).
Freight by Amazon (FBA)
The first and most common option for order fulfillment is Amazon FBA. All you need to do is send your inventory to Amazon and they take care of the rest. They charge a per-unit storage and transaction fee, but it frees you up to focus on advertising and selling your products. If you are going the Amazon FBA route, here are some important dates to remember:
- May 30, 2021: Inventory must arrive at FBA Fulfillment Centers for India
- May 31, 2021: Inventory must arrive at FBA Fulfillment Centers for Amazon US & CA
- June 1, 2021: Inventory must arrive at FBA Fulfillment Centers for Australia & Mexico
- June 6, 2021: Inventory must arrive at FBA Fulfillment Centers for UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Turkey
- June 7, 2021: Inventory must arrive at FBA Fulfillment Centers for UAE & Saudi Arabia
- June 13, 2021: Inventory must arrive at FBA Fulfillment Centers for Japan
Freight by Merchant (FBM)
Another popular option is Amazon FBM, or freight by merchant, which allows you to handle fulfillment yourself or outsource to a third-party logistics (3PL) provider.
3PL providers are becoming a more popular option for Amazon sellers due to their flexibility and overall lower cost. While every 3PL provider will have different deadlines to receive inventory, it will likely be later than those set by Amazon. Depending on their current workload, many 3PL providers can receive and prepare inventory for Amazon in under a week. If you are considering using a 3PL for your Prime Day order fulfillment, find out their inbound Amazon inventory deadlines and how quickly they can prep your inventory for fulfillment. Not to mention, 3PL providers may be a cheaper option than Amazon FBA and allow you to customize how your orders are fulfilled. Everything from branded shipping boxes to customer inserts or specific packaging supplies. Not only does this showcase your brand, but it also provides a unique customer experience that can lead to repeat sales after the holiday season.
Lastly, if you’re planning on tackling fulfillment on your own make sure you have everything in place to be able to fulfill the Prime two-day shipping. The last thing you want to do is to run out of shipping supplies or be overwhelmed by the number of orders you have to process. Consider hiring temporary workers or asking friends and family for help.
Whether you are sending in your inventory to FBA, using a third-party logistics provider (3PL) or fulfilling on your own, it’s important you give yourself and/or your fulfillment team enough time to receive and prepare your inventory.
5. Clearly Define Your Return Policy
One thing often overlooked is your return and refund policy. It’s safe to assume that your return requests will increase as your sales do, but don’t make the mistake of trying to define a process on the fly. With the increase of eCommerce sales in 2020, customer returns also increased to 70%. This will number will likely continue to grow as more and more consumers are shopping exclusively online, especially during the holiday season.
Having a streamlined process in place can help you process Prime day returns quickly and efficiently. Another option to consider is extending your return time frame. This frees you up to focus on order fulfillment and allows you to handle the returns after the sale. If you are adjusting your return policy, make sure you’re customers are aware. List it on your seller account and your product pages as well as your social media. If shoppers are aware of the return policy upfront, they are more likely to buy knowing they can easily return if they aren’t satisfied.
6. Promote Your Products
Being a product-focused marketplace, differentiating yourself on Amazon is key. Be creative with your promotions and advertisements. A great way to do this is through sponsored ads on Amazon. If you are using sponsored ads, make sure you watch your bid maximums and keywords. With the amount of traffic Amazon receives on Prime day, you’ll quickly burn through your budget before seeing how well they are performing. Run test ads leading up to Prime Day to make sure you setting up successful campaigns and maximizing your return.
Another great way is to run campaigns outside of Amazon. Promote the upcoming deals on your website and deal sites. Consider running ads on social media highlighting the upcoming deals or offer something like free shipping or a gift with purchase. Not only will this help your products stand out, but it can also help drive external traffic to your Amazon listings.
A successful Prime Day is just the first step. The increase in sales from the holiday can lead to more opportunities for customers to leave feedback and product reviews increasing your ranking in the marketplace. The strategies above can help prepare you for the increased demand, but if you’re considering outsourcing the heavy lifting to a 3PL provider, we can help.
C2W Distribution offers both 3PL & 4PL solutions to meet your fulfilment, eCommerce, dropshipping, & storage requirements. Whether you need someone to prepare your inventory for Amazon FBA or would like us to handle your fulfillment through Amazon FBM, we have a solution for you.
Interested in learning more? Contact us today to see how we can help with Amazon.