Another year, another Amazon Prime Day has been and gone. The first 24 hours of this year’s event saw £633.4m spent online, making it the biggest day for ecommerce so far in 2024, with day two sales surpassing £618m, according to Adobe Analytics. And, with the total online spend hitting £1.3bn, it seems that shoppers simply cannot get enough.
For those eyeing a slice of the action next year, the planning starts now. Decision Marketing asks industry experts what retailers should be looking out for.
Outbrain head of enterprise for Northern Europe Alex Cheeseman recognises that, since its inception in 2015, Amazon Prime Day has become a major shopping event, rivalling Black Friday. For brands, it presents a unique opportunity to tap into an eager consumer base, promising substantial rewards for those who navigate its competitive landscape.
But Cheeseman adds: “Prime Day’s premium ad inventory and limited availability require strategic planning. Brands must use savvy tactics to maximise return on ad spend, ensuring their ad dollars attract new customers and boost sales without inflating costs.
“Amazon’s ad placement regulations can sometimes lead to ads appearing in less desirable locations, impacting brand safety and performance. This unpredictability can be a significant drawback for brands aiming for precise targeting and maintaining their brand image.
“Incorporating open-web advertising alongside Amazon campaigns can enhance overall strategy. Open-web advertising leverages programmatic ad buying on reputable news sites and high-traffic websites, reaching broad audiences without the intense competition of Amazon. This approach provides more control over ad placements, enhancing brand safety and performance, and ensuring efficient use of marketing dollars.
“By balancing Amazon and open-web advertising, brands can reach diverse demographics, capture additional interest, and retarget consumers who interacted with Amazon ads but didn’t convert (and vice-versa). This synergy creates a cohesive brand presence and maximises conversion opportunities across platforms, ensuring a robust, efficient, and effective advertising strategy.”
Meanwhile, Analytic Partners senior partner Justine O’Neill reckons that while Amazon Prime Day may be the original, it is no longer the only significant ecommerce sales event in town.
She explains: “The competition has clearly learned from their successes already and has set up their own events In July, such as the TikTok Shop Deals For You Days offering discounts in real time, or Temu Week lining up alongside the likes of Target Circle Week and Walmart Deals.
“With unprecedented competition for shoppers’ attention and bargain-lovers’ cash, it will be even more interesting to see if Amazon can keep up the rising sales numbers of the past.
“For brands, these events can still mean big business – if set up the right media plan to cut through the noise. Especially those with strong brand building in the months ahead will have a clear advantage during busy times due to brand recognition. Investments in the retailers’ media networks can further support those efforts and make the brand visible across multiple platforms.
“Brands should also diversify their ad formats and channels to avoid getting lost in search results. A customer-centric omnichannel approach is essential in driving a larger ROI. And finally, the KPIs for the event must be clear and embedded into a holistic measurement approach that captures the impact as part of all commercial activities; only then will they be able to truly evaluate it.”
Finally, for OMG UK ecommerce director Julie Garrigues there are three main reasons why Amazon has continued to build on its success as a sales event.
Big savings – Amazon continues to offer deep discounts across its best-selling categories. These limited time deals are effective at attracting new-to-category shoppers and almost a third of these customers repeat purchase onsite within three months.
Large selection – Prime members research and build baskets weeks before the event. To grow its selection and shopper base, Amazon helps independent sellers and small to medium-sized businesses sell big by funding promotions during the lead up period.
Excellent customer experience – This year, Amazon leveraged its technology to match deals and shoppers with personalised badges such as ‘deals for you’ or ‘deals you might like’.
Even so, Garrigues advises: “It’s important for brands to carefully build their promo strategy by considering not only their inventory health and content quality, but also by leveraging retailer data clean rooms such as Amazon Marketing Cloud to gather deep shopper insights.
“Across each phase of the event, brands can create a tactical mix tailored to their shoppers’ path-to-purchase and a highly relevant targeting strategy through custom audiences.
“Brands should also be mindful that shoppers are building their baskets in the lead up to the event and therefore should look to leverage channels that deliver incremental reach of high value audiences. They can then also target these shoppers who have added their products to cart but have not purchased yet to drive efficient conversions.”
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