Prime Time for Prime Day

Amazon’s Prime Day has truly come of age. This year it became the biggest day in history for signing up new prime members AND generated approximately $1 billion in revenue at a time in the calendar normally not associated with sales. While Amazon did not give specific numbers, they did say it surpassed their 2016 results on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Wow. That says a lot. What’s even more interesting is how it turned almost everyone on planet earth into shoppers in a single 30-hour timeframe. And, transformed online influencers like bloggers into curators of what’s hot/what’s not. Plus—these shoppers ‘showroomed’. They shopped around to see if what was being sold on Amazon was really the best deal out there. And in so doing, provided an uptick in online traffic for other retailers/brands who were smart and agile enough to have competing summer sales.

And what were shoppers buying? Well, Amazon sold seven times more echo devices globally on July 11 than during the entire Prime Day sale in 2016. This shows that shoppers are warming up to the adoption of smart devices and ioT ecosystem into their lives. And embracing what Amazon does really well—remove the pain points to purchase through their prime membership with FREE super fast and reliable delivery all the way through to voice activated commerce. Prime Day is a prime example of when friction is taken away, conversion is easier than ever and shoppers can go from “I want” to “I bought” with a simple click or conversation—and BUY AGAIN ON AMAZON.

So with the popularity and success of Prime Day, how can brand and retailers leverage Prime Day for their benefit?

But Amazon’s Prime Day is not just about deals, seamless delivery or the event itself. It ultimately boils down to this: shoppers feel valued and that they’re being treated to something special. Plus Amazon’s predictive modeling analytics helps provide selections that seem completely personalized. All of this adds up to giving shoppers what they really, really want—service—so they will buy over and over to replicate the same positive experience.

Image Source: Amazon

Contributed by: Delaney Lynch, Integer Des Moines