Amazon is reportedly preparing for a “Summer Sale” event from 22 June in a move to jumpstart sales after the coronavirus crunch and drive customer engagement. The event is expected to run anywhere from seven to 10 days, offering discounts of at least 30%.
Amazon had to previously postpone its Prime Day event from July until at least August, as it struggled to cope with unprecedented demand and had to prioritize essential items. The Summer Sale might help Amazon to recapture some consumers that had to shop elsewhere during the pandemic in the wake of shipping delays and limited product availability. Similarly in China, Alibaba and JD.com are gearing up for the 6.18 shopping festival, offering the largest amount of discounts ever.
Amazon has reportedly asked sellers to submit Summer Sale deals by 3 June. Under normal conditions, in Prime Day, submissions are due two months before the event. Given the shortened timeline of the Summer Sale, we now expect Amazon to accept submissions and place purchase orders as manufacturers submit. Flywheel by Ascential, which has optimised brands promotions around events like Prime Day, therefore recommends brands to focus their promotional strategy on ASINs which have current stock on Amazon and those which brands can support given internal current stock positions.
Given the global shift towards promotions in engagement strategies and Amazon’s track record on rolling out initiatives to wider markets, we expect similar promotion events to come to Europe later this year.
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