What began as a one-day event called Prime Day in July 2015 has transformed into multiple events throughout the year. Today, we’re walking through our strategy and approach to these major Amazon shopping events, so you can apply our learnings to the next one — Prime Big Deal Days — to be held October 8-9. Our approach focuses on strategies we’ve implemented for Prime Day as that event offers the most data to draw from.
Three Phases of Amazon’s Prime Events
Amazon’s Summer Prime Day event is nearly a decade old. Every year since its debut, the retail giant has iterated how it approaches major shopping events. But for the last several years, there has been a widely understood trend around Amazon’s Prime Events focused on three phases:
- Lead-up: 7-10 days before the event
- Event week: days of the shopping event
- Lead-out: 10-14 days following the event
Prime Day 2024 Results
For Prime Day 2024, MindgruveMacarta leaned into this three-phased approach and curated strategies to maximize each phase for its clients. Here are some client results from July 2024:
- Lead-up: CPMs increased by an average of 2% per day and CPCs by 1% per day (6/30-7/13)
- Event week: CPMs increased by a staggering average of 48% and CPCs by 15% during the Prime Day event compared to the lead-up period (7/16-7/17)
- Lead-out: CPMs and CPCs fell below pre-lead-up levels, declining by 4% and 8%, respectively (7/21-8/3)
Applying the Three-Phase Approach to Prime Big Deal Days
Heading into the next Prime event, October’s Prime Big Deal Days, MindgruveMacarta will continue to lean into a three-phased approach. This event kicks off holiday shopping for many consumers, so it’s crucial to have a clear plan in place. Our specific strategies focus on addressing the following questions for each phase:
Lead-up:
- How do we intentionally speak to the influx of “window shoppers” who visit Amazon?
- As competition and CPCs/CPMs begin to climb, how do we entice those “window shoppers” to add items to their cart in hopes of that item being on sale during Prime Day?
Event week:
- How do we ensure the products our clients committed promotional dollars to are prominently visible?
- How do we ensure the promotion units are fully delivered without disrupting overall efficiency metrics?
Lead-out:
- How do we maximize this post-event period when many advertisers begin to normalize their bids and investment levels back to pre-Prime Day levels?
- How can we leverage the massive volume of unique impressions that came to Amazon.com over the prior few weeks?
Navigating Promotion Submission Deadlines
One unique aspect of Amazon’s Prime events is the uptick of Prime-specific promotions. Two or three months prior to any Prime event, Amazon communicates submission deadlines for promotions specific to the event, along with inventory cutoff dates, to marketplace sellers and its retail vendors. Discount levels must be finalized with inventory physically in an Amazon fulfillment center to be eligible for promotion during the event. Having a strategy that ensures these products are sold in full during the event is paramount, as most brands plan their promoted products and unit volume months in advance.
Want to learn the specifics of how we execute our strategy? Get in touch with us today.
