Originally published on July 26, 2019, updated November 25, 2019
Like one of its Lightning Deals, Amazon Prime Day 2019 has already come and gone. Although it only lasted 48 hours — up from 36 hours last year and 24 hours from when it started in 2015 — Amazon’s sales extravaganza made the most out of those two days and set some impressive records.
In particular, Prime Day 2019 sold more than Amazon’s Cyber Monday and Black Friday sales combined. That puts it firmly as “the largest shopping event in Amazon history,” at least for now. The pull from Prime Day was so strong that even Amazon’s top competitors like Walmart and Best Buy saw a 68% increase in sales during July 15-16.
But what does that mean for Amazon sellers moving forward? What lessons did we learn from Prime Day and what can we do with that information? Below, we offer a retrospective for Prime Day 2019, with statistics, top products and advice for the future.
Let’s break down Prime Day 2019 by the numbers. We’ve collected the most helpful data from Amazon’s own press release and a Forbes report.
Amazon sellers can gauge current sales trends from looking at the best sellers of Prime Day 2019. We see not only which products have the most demand, but also what products people are waiting for a discount to buy.
If you look at Amazon’s own press material for Prime Day, they like to talk about how many Amazon Prime membership signups they received. And that’s true for the most part — July 15 and 16 saw more Prime signups than any other day.
What they don’t mention, though, is how many cancellations they receive those same days and directly afterwards. That number is a well-kept secret, as Amazon corporate declines to release the data. But what analytics firm Captify found out is that searches for “Cancelling Amazon Prime” were 18x higher on July 15 than normal days.
The same article estimated an Amazon Prime membership retention rate of around 90%, although, considering the information above, this almost certainly drops significantly during Prime Day. If your sales strategy revolves around Prime members, even outside of Prime Day, it’s worth considering the transience of shoppers who just sign up for Prime Day and then cancel.
Now that you have this information, what do you do with it as a seller?
Among other things, we learned that consumers are willing to hold off on appliance purchases until they’re on sale. That’s not exactly news, judging by the success of Labor Day and Memorial Day sales events for appliances. What this latest data teaches us is that Prime Day is now a full-fledged shopping holiday, and appliance sellers should incorporate it in the grand strategy for 2020 and beyond.
If you’re looking ahead at your next steps, we suggest reinvesting your Prime Day profits into your Q4 sales campaigns. Just because Prime Day 2019 beat out Amazon’s Thanksgiving weekend sales for last year doesn’t mean they’ll do it for this year — if anything, Prime Day’s success in 2019 forecasts an even bigger holiday season for Amazon.
It’s also worth noting that Amazon’s statistics only cover Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but the Q4 sales boost also lasts the first three weeks of December. That makes the entire winter holiday season more profitable overall.
Rather than pocketing your Prime Day profits, they may be better spent on things like advertising, new products and marketing efforts for the upcoming holiday season.
The way some people talk about Prime Day, they make it seem like it doesn’t matter what you do in the “off season.” But the truth is actually quite the opposite: the most trusted and best-rated stores all-year round generally do the best when during Prime Day. After all, your seller feedback rating directly affects your Buy Box eligibility.
As mentioned in the Amazon Seller’s Guide to Prime Day, customers make buying decisions just as much from reviews as the price or products. If your reviews are lackluster, so will be your returns on Prime Day — and the rest of the year. Start getting more reviews with this free guide!
Originally published on July 26, 2019, updated November 25, 2019
This post is accurate as of the date of publication. Some features and information may have changed due to product updates or Amazon policy changes.
We Are Virtual!
But you can still send us mail:
9702 Gayton Road, Suite 230
Richmond, VA 23238
Call us: 800-757-6840
No Comments Yet
Let us know what you think