Originally launched in July 2015 to celebrate Prime members on Amazon’s 20th birthday, Prime Day has historically influenced sellers’ success in launching new products, refreshing inventory, and capturing increased traffic to boost sales. As brands aim to maximize sales and reach budget-conscious consumers on the world’s most competitive marketplace, now is the time to prepare your Prime Day 2023 strategy and build toward rocketship growth on the Amazon platform.

What makes Prime Day 2023 unique from previous years?

Prime Day offers numerous opportunities for brands each year, from reviving sales or moving inventory. These advantages are especially salient in a dreary economic outlook. In fact, data from Prime Day 2022 proved that frugal consumers will spend if the price is right. Despite a historically high inflation rate, shoppers brought in an estimated $11.9 billion in sales and saved over $1.7 billion on more than 300 million items last year.

What makes Prime Day even more important this year is that Amazon sellers can use the event to build sales momentum in the weeks that follow by taking advantage of Prime Day’s halo effect. When optimized product listings drive more sales during the event, Amazon’s algorithm will support that growth with an organic lift in product rankings.

Banerjee offers a series of strategies to deliver on those needs. “To create that want, we recommend you use unboxing videos, sleek product videos and interactive premium A+ coupled with a brand store that can differentiate you in the customer’s mind.” Basically, offering a good product and customer experience during Prime Day will continue to drive traffic and incremental sales. But optimization is key to reaping these rewards, because other top-performing sellers can achieve these gains, too.

Begin preparations for Prime Day now.

Prime Day is more than just the advertised sales event. There is a considerable halo trailing the event, especially for brands who strategized on price and had loaded discounts and deals at the ready for the post-Prime Day period. In short: Prime Day is an opportunity to supercharge long-term sales and growth on Amazon marketplace. 

Again, preparation is key. To help sellers get ready for Prime Day in advance, we’ve put together a guide to Prime Day detailing how sellers can maximize their earnings through tactics that set brands up for success on Amazon. Want a preview? Check out eight steps to Prime Day success below:

1. Analyze past events’ performance and trends to determine driving forces for engagement and conversion rates.
2. Identify seasonal trends and what shoppers are interested in at that particular point in time. Note: Offer different product types to provide shoppers with a broader selection and them away from your competitors.
3. Provide a discount on your related products to incentivize shoppers to purchase your products over your competitors.
4. Launch targeted ad campaigns to stand out from the competitors. Note: Specific Prime Day campaigns should be launched a month prior to Prime Day.
5. Dial in on the top-performing products and increase the daily ad budget to avoid running out of funds first thing in the morning when active hours could be later in the morning.
6. Optimize ad campaigns by running A/B Test Experiments to identify the best performing version of the product listing.
7. Track campaign performance frequently and strategize for future events. Be sure to note inventory levels to avoid running out of stock or have dropship transmitted as a backup.
8. Extend your efforts two weeks after Prime Day to maintain the relevancy, momentum, and growth built leading up to the event. Note: traffic will still be higher than average as shoppers continue searching for trickling discounts.

There’s even more to uncover in the full guide, where you’ll learn how to determine if Prime Day is suitable for your brand, the best advertising practices, and the right strategy for a successful shopping sales event. 

Don’t wait to get your Prime Day preparations in order—grab your copy now.

Everything to know about Buy with Prime.

Buy with Prime is Amazon’s latest strategic program launched in April 2022, allowing Prime members to utilize their Prime benefits on eligible purchases on a brand's direct-to-consumer (DTC) site with fast, free shipping and a checkout experience millions of shoppers trust. Since then, Buy with Prime has been expanded to all US-based merchants. A notable detail is that you do not need to be an Amazon Seller to participate in this program, meaning you can offer Buy with Prime on your ecommerce site without showing up on Amazon.com.

“Buy with Prime is a brilliant move by Amazon to move upstream of DTC and offer the biggest benefit of a Prime membership—free two-day shipping—without having to go to Amazon's website,” says John Ghiorso, SVP of Global Ecommerce at Media.Monks. “This is a strategic move by Amazon to address one of its biggest threats: customers bypassing Amazon altogether in their ecommerce journey.”

By clicking the Buy with Prime button, shoppers can check out by signing into their Amazon account. The payment method and shipping details are pre-populated, which allows a seamless experience for shoppers to conveniently make a purchase. 

Buy with Prime lets brands build strong customer relationships and brand loyalty while offering conversion-driving benefits. Amazon Prime members see the Prime logo and delivery promise on eligible products, which signals that the item is available for free delivery and easy returns—a win-win for both consumers and brands. Check out even more benefits below.

Increase conversion rates. 

The most apparent benefit of Buy with Prime is the potential increase in conversion rates. According to Amazon, the program has been shown to increase shopper conversion by 25% on average. This means shoppers are more likely to place an order when Buy with Prime is available. 

“I’m most excited about the increases in conversion rates (on average 25%) early merchants have seen since implementing Buy with Prime on their websites,” says Christina Bender, Director of Amazon Partnerships at Media.Monks. “Buy with Prime reduces the friction for the end customer. Additionally, the Buy with Prime team constantly updates their product, listening to customer and partner feedback.”

Offload the logistical stress from online purchases. 

As brands expand their online presence and ecommerce grows in popularity, they will need to strategize the most taxing part of selling online: handling shipping and returns. Amazon Prime has changed consumer behavior tremendously, so much so that shoppers now expect deliveries in two days. Retailers who don’t offering similar timelines often get overlooked as a result.

“The biggest benefit to Buy with Prime for Amazon partners is the time they will get back,” says Scott Miller, Director of Business Management at Media.Monks. “By outsourcing the payment and delivery process to Amazon, brands will free up their employee’s bandwidth to focus on what matters most: customer acquisition, satisfaction, and retention.”

With Buy with Prime, brands can take advantage of Amazon's vast logistics network and offer the same reliable shipping and easy returns that Amazon Prime members expect from the online retailer. This can save brands significant time, resources, and money on logistics and customer service, allowing them to focus on what they do best: creating and selling great products.

Access to a loyal customer base. 

Brands can tap into the millions of U.S.-based Prime members who trust and prefer the Amazon.com experience, allowing brands to build strong customer relationships and brand loyalty. When a brand joins the Buy with Prime program, their products become visible to millions of Prime members on Amazon.com and across Amazon's mobile apps, which can significantly increase brand visibility and drive more sales. Another example of integration between the Amazon platform and a brand’s own are customer reviews, which further build trust.

“The recent announcement of having the option to display customer reviews from Amazon.com within their ecommerce store helps brands showcase the positive customer feedback they have already received about their products,” says Jordan Kushan, Senior Account Manager at Media.Monks. “Customers get the benefit of seeing what is popular from a trusted source. It is a clear win-win."

Optimize your Amazon strategy with Buy with Prime analytics. 

Finally, the Buy with Prime program also provides brands with valuable data and insights that can be used to optimize their sales strategy. This data can include customer behavior, purchase history, and demographics, which can be used to create targeted marketing campaigns and improve the customer experience.

Get started with Buy with Prime now.

If you’re interested in adding Buy with Prime to your website, confirm your eligibility here. After setting up Buy with Prime, you can identify which products that will offer the Buy with Prime button. Then, simply add the Buy with Prime button code to your existing website and you’re good to go.

In today's fast-paced and highly competitive ecommerce landscape, the Buy with Prime program presents an enormous opportunity for brands to grow their DTC stores and take advantage of the Amazon platform—all while increasing conversions and fostering customer relationships. By joining the program, brands can leverage Amazon’s extensive distribution infrastructure and take advantage of the wealth of data and insights that Amazon offers. 

Media.Monks is an Amazon Ads Advanced Partner, and our dedicated team of experts specialize in growing brands' businesses on the Amazon platform. We can help you make the most of the Buy with Prime program and drive more sales and revenue for your brand. 

Want to strategize a winning game plan for your brand to grow sales and relationships in 2023?

Amazon Brand Stores offer customization and control.

Amazon sellers can build a strong customer connection through the brand store by sharing their stories and educating shoppers on the brand’s mission, values, and much more. There is no other place on Amazon where the customer experience is controlled. Competitors’ ads are not visible on the Brand Store, which allows for a more customizable experience that focuses on just the brand’s products and offerings. With the spotlight being purely on the brand, this feature is crucial to leverage compelling brand storytelling.

Set your Brand Store up for success.

Once an Amazon seller completes the Amazon Brand Registry, they’ll be able to create an Amazon Brand Store. It’s important to note that the Brand Store template should reflect the brand’s image. Amazon frequently releases new ideas for sellers to boost their revenue and customers’ loyalty, such as brand videos to show products in motion, interactive posts, and product comparison tables. By adding these components, sellers can emphasize how their products can solve the shoppers’ problems with lifestyle images and a brief brand story. 

The Brand Store should include an “About Us” section or page, which speaks on the brand’s story and competitive advantages. This allows them to establish a rapport with their shoppers and provide a more personable experience. 

Since ecommerce shoppers rely heavily on visuals to make important purchase decisions, Brand Store imagery should be a top priority for sellers. Images and videos should follow specific size requirements to avoid any store errors. Other best practices for images include showing a variety of high quality images and ordering them in a way that prioritizes the images in a specific sequence.

Successful Brand Stores should also have a user-friendly navigation menu, categorized in a way that matches the brand’s target audience needs. Since the Brand Store acts as a hub for customer browsing, I recommend all products are available and accessible through the Brand Store. 

Analyze and optimize every step of the customer journey.

Amazon Brand Stores should always be monitored and optimized based on the data and engagement. This includes updating active promotions as well as featuring new product launches and seasonal products. If the seller fails to keep the Brand Store updated, they risk losing sales and revenue. According to Amazon, on average Brand Stores updated within a 90-day window have 21% more repeat visitors and 35% higher attributed sales per visitor. With the goal of increasing sales and customer loyalty, sellers should focus on optimizing the Brand Store content to be as informative and relevant as possible. 

Last but not least, sellers are able to track their Brand Store performance and shoppers’ engagement. These metrics include but are not limited to daily visitors, page views, estimated total sales, and so much more. Reviewing these metrics can be beneficial for a seller who wants to use their Brand Store in conjunction with their other marketing efforts.