How Ecommerce Sellers Need To Prepare For Amazon Prime Day 2023

Posted September 1, 2023 by Yardline Team

In 2015, Amazon commemorated its 20th anniversary by launching Amazon Prime Day, a major site-wide sale featuring promotions and discounts across all categories.

Last year, prime members purchased more than 300 million items worldwide, the biggest Prime Day event in Amazon’s history. With prime members saving over $1.7 billion, also more than any previous Prime Day event, there’s no question that we’ll see larger numbers this year.

And it’s no surprise, sellers are already ticking off checklists to prepare for Amazon Prime Day.

Despite the name, Prime ‘Day’ is actually 48 hours long. Amazon Prime members can find steep limited-time discounts (aka lightning deals) on a wide range of products, as well as other promotions. In 2021 for example, Amazon agreed to give shoppers a $10 credit towards a Prime Day purchase – provided they’d spent $10 previously at a small business on Amazon’s Support Small Business storefront.

This year, Amazon is offering:

$15 credit if members download the Amazon photos app and upload their first photo now through July 7th
$12 if members reload $100 on a gift card
$5 if first-time gift card customers spend $50 on gift cards between July 3rd-10th

The celebration is set to take place on Tuesday, July 11, and continue through July 12th with early Amazon deals popping up as early as July 8th or 9th.- Sellers would be foolish not to capitalize on Amazon’s biggest sale of the year and the increased traffic it brings with it – but how can you best go about it?

We’ve put together a list of Amazon Prime Day tips for sellers – to ensure that this year, you’re getting the most out of this opportunity.

How Amazon FBA Sellers Can Prepare for Amazon Prime Day

Even experienced Amazon FBA sellers may find it uniquely challenging to prepare for this Amazon Prime Day. In April 2022, Amazon offset its rising fuel costs with a 5% fuel and inflation surcharge on all third-party sellers using its fulfillment services. Changes like this make implementing a streamlined, bulletproofed strategy more important than ever in order to prepare for Amazon Prime Day.

Here’s what you need to do:

PURCHASE AHEAD OF TIME AND AVOID SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a domino effect of issues on supply chain logistics, from a lack of transport to a spike in prices. Even three years later, sellers still find themselves in the middle of a supply chain crisis, and the only real defense against it is a great deal of foresight and proactive purchasing.

Diversifying your supplier pool, building up your inventory, and researching your competitors are all well worth the time invested if it means that your sales on Amazon Prime Day are fulfilled quickly and smoothly.

Make sure you have enough inventory for your promoted products and best sellers and use your data from past sales events, like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, to help determine your Prime Day inventory strategy.

MAKE THE MOST OF COUPONS, PROMOTIONS, AND BUNDLES

Economic conditions continue to impact consumer spending, and in a recent survey of nearly 1,000 US consumers, 81% said rising inflation was affecting their spending on consumer goods. This means it’s more important than ever to curate deals that are simply too good to pass up. Look into creating promotions, implementing lightning deals and Amazon Coupons, and discounting your list price (at least 5%) so Amazon displays a discount percentage on your listing.

OPTIMIZE YOUR LISTINGS TO BETTER PREPARE FOR AMAZON PRIME DAY

Speaking of listings, are yours truly the best they can be?
Consider implementing the following to optimize your listings:

Ensure you have SEO-optimized titles
Choose high-quality images
Write engaging, information-rich descriptions

All of these strategies cost nothing and can be the difference between conversions and abandoned carts.

HAVE A STRONG ADVERTISING STRATEGY

Creating and executing a strong advertising strategy is one of the best Amazon Prime Day tips for sellers we can offer. Outcompete other sellers by advertising off Amazon with Google Ads and social media. Doing so will increase your reach, engage your current customer base, and improve your sell-through rate.

Analyze your PPC campaigns and adjust accordingly to make sure you’re ranking highly on relevant keywords. On that note, ensure you’re using Amazon Ads to their full potential.

Lastly, enroll in Amazon’s Brand Referral Bonus, where you can earn on average, a 10% bonus of the sales price on sales generated from non-Amazon marketing efforts.

How Shopify, WooCommerce, and Other DTC Sellers Should Prepare for Amazon Prime Day

It can feel a bit futile competing with Amazon during their biggest sales event of the year, but, with the right strategy to prepare for Amazon Prime Day, it can be a deeply fruitful time for DTC sellers. Our Amazon Prime Day tips for sellers in the DTC space include:

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF CUSTOMERS IN THE MOOD TO BUY

Despite the current reluctance to spend unnecessarily, customers will be browsing the web on Prime Day with an expectation of unmissable deals, leaving them more open to impulse purchases than usual. And for the first time since 2020, overall spending appears to be trending higher with consumers buying more groceries, clothing, and pet supplies and less home and kitchen, electronics, and office supplies.

Make sure you promote your store with a smart marketing strategy. and highlighting what sets you apart, with a focus on the quality and value of your products – especially if you offer something that can’t easily be found on Amazon.

OFFER YOUR OWN LIGHTNING DEALS TO PREPARE FOR AMAZON PRIME DAY

While Amazon Prime Day is exclusive to Prime customers, your promotions can offer similar benefits without the need for a membership. Again, potential customers will be online in multitudes, with the expectation of seeing great deals. Whether they qualify for Prime Day or not, they will be eager for the best deals available – make those yours.

USE PAID ADVERTISING TO ENGAGE CUSTOMERS PROACTIVELY

If there’s ever a time to invest in your paid advertising campaigns, it’s right before Prime Day. Spotlighting your products through great deals, promotions, and content is all wonderful, but insufficient if you can’t get your store in front of the customers. Paid ads provide you with a spot at the table, both by increasing the volume of engaged potential customers, and creating further brand awareness. If funding is a concern, Yardline can help you make the most of this opportunity through fast, interest-free capital. Meanwhile, preexisting Yardline customers should discuss how to best prepare their unique business for this opportunity with a Seller Success Team manager.

Get Funding to Support Your Initiatives on Prime Day

Amazon Prime Day is the most successful shopping event in Amazon’s history, and in 2022, small and medium-sized businesses sales growth outpaced Amazon’s retail business.

Creating a burst of retail activity at a time of year that’s typically considered a dead zone, Amazon Prime Day offers a major opportunity to sellers savvy enough to avail themselves of it. However, several best practices – building up your stock levels beforehand, investing more into your PPC campaigns, and advertising off Amazon – require capital to succeed. This is where we can help. Yardline is your one-stop shop for personalized ecommerce funding. With one simple application, Yardline provides you with access to every credit product an ecommerce seller would need. Get funding from $5k up to $20 million in as fast as 24 hours when you apply for funding today. Apply today with our 3-minute application to prepare for Prime Day and grow your business.