This change from last year's somewhat disappointing consumer response was undoubtedly driven by increased inventory for key deals, as Clavis noted only 2 of 21 spotlight deals were out of stock by noon EDT in the U.S. And while shoppers seemed content with items being in stock this year, Clavis also noted that discounts in Europe and the U.S. averaged 40-45%, no greater than a normal sale day.
In order to capitalize on the success of Prime Day, other retailers have tried to launch their own sales events at the same time under various names including “Black Friday in July," to “Summer Sale” and “FantasTech." While these retailers are clearly chasing Amazon’s success, their motivation is to keep up with the market leader than to fall further behind. Having numerous other sales events on the same day will also drive higher traffic and help establish the event as a high profile day for shoppers.
What Do These Amazon Prime Day Results Mean for Brands?
Now that it is safe to assume all of the summer sales will be back again next year, brands need to keep inventory full across various retailers both before and after a sales event. On Amazon, we saw some brands immediately lose the buy box due to being out of stock following the end of their sales period.
Multiple retailers also highlighted the best-selling items in a given category and put them on sale for their events. This spotlight puts further pressure on brands to make sure they register strong performance all year long so that they lead their given category in time for major sales. The impact from this is compounding: bestselling products get more exposure and sales during promotional events, further boosting sales. Brands need a clear list of KPIs to track now to play the long game and slowly climb (or remain) to the top of their categories.
Since Amazon’s discounts of 40-45% are no greater than what is seen on a normal sales day, brands should not feel pressured to offer exceptional deals to get noticed. This lowers the bar for which brands can participate in Prime Day.
While consumer electronics was the most popular for deals on Amazon and multiple outlets, just about every category had some type of promotion going on. This means the impact from Black Friday in July is far reaching and and so brands will need to start thinking about this sales event in the same league as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
How Did Other Online Retailers Respond to Amazon Prime Day?
Some retailers were more aggressive with competing with Amazon than others. The tagline “No Membership needed” was used on more than one Amazon competitor.Noticeable omissions are Target.com and Jet.com, both of which continued normally scheduled discounts instead of creating a special event to compete with Amazon. Brands should optimize their portfolio across multiple retailers to make sure they are getting the best positioning on deal pages, and that they are taking advantage of each website’s key discounts.
Walmart.com: Walmart.com dropped its shipping minimum on July 12 and offered free shipping on all items. Rollback sales were present across every major category, with best sellers being highlighted on the deal page. Amazon also pushed category leaders to the front of its deal page, further increasing sales and awareness of well performing items.
Walmart.com also had a website wide banner ad for its free 30-day trial of ShippingPass, a program which offers free 2-day shipping to members.
JCPenny: Named Penny Palooza, JCPenny’s 2-day sale offered 25% off all sales items, or 15% off watches, furniture and other select items. Sales ranged across most key apparel categories, with JCPenny highlighted popular products which were on sales.
Newegg: From computer parts to printers, everyone major electronics category had discounts on for their second annual “FantasTech” sale. Given that Consumer Electronics is the most popular category to discount, Newegg’s comprehensive offerings often outpace competitors.
Best Buy: Like Newegg, Best Buy was offering items across every major electronics category. Best Buy also advertised “College Student Deals” on back to school items such as laptops, which shows a more aggressive stance than Amazon with regards to targeting student shoppers. Best Buy also advertised its price match policy to assure sales were just as good as other competitors.
Toys R Us: To lure shoppers they were offering free shipping on baby gear, and free shipping on orders over $19.99. Toys R Us also ran an “Everybody Saves” deal, which included 15% off all items that were not part of another discount or promotion. Finally, the Toys R Us “Brand Sale” revolved around key children’s brands such as Barbie, Disney, and Legos.
