This year’s shopping season comes early, there’s no doubt about that. With Amazon Prime Day just around the corner, COVID-19 turbulences, and the majority of the world’s population moving their holiday shopping online, this Golden Quarter is going to be like nothing we’ve ever seen before.
E-commerce retailers, affiliate marketers, or deal-hunters… regardless of the occupation, we’re all going to have a blast!
Read the article and learn how to capitalize on the Prime Day hype and make the most of your affiliate efforts in Q4 2020.
What happens on Amazon Prime Day?
Amazon Prime Day first took place on July 15th, 2015. The e-commerce giant decided to celebrate its 20th birthday by hailing the day a prime day, as well as offer unique deals to its most dedicated customers — the prime membership subscribers.
But it’s much more than that. Since its first edition, Prime Day has evolved into a key shopping event, a 48-hour long shopping spree, and a unique deal-hunting opportunity for all willing to participate. Yes, it’s no longer valid only for those who subscribe to Prime membership. Though not all deals are available, there are hundreds of bargains for other customers, too.
Only huge success comes with huge competition. That’s why it didn’t take long before Amazon’s competitors, both big and small, decided to have a piece of that cake, too. Hailed a July version of Black Friday, Amazon Prime Day attracts not only bargain-seekers but also clever marketers who make a wise decision of launching their promos around the same time. To give you a couple of examples, Target has already announced its Deals Days for October 14-15th, and Walmart is about to launch Big Save promotion between October 11-15th.
Is Amazon having Prime Day 2020?
As already mentioned, Amazon Prime day has been often called a July version of Black Friday. This year, though, things are different. Given the global pandemic and the fact we are all forced into lockdown, the event couldn’t take place during its usual timeframe.
In fact, many had been asking whether Prime Day 2020 was going to happen at all. And Amazon itself did a great job keeping us on our toes, wondering until the very last minute. But fear not, the official announcement has been made and all those bargain seekers can take a deep breath now.
Amazon Prime Day 2020 will commence on October 13th and will last for 48 hours until the end of October 14th.
That gives us two full days to complete our July wishlist. What’s more interesting actually, is that this year’s Prime Day means the very beginning of the holiday shopping frenzy. Quite a clever move, isn’t it?
The world’s favorite time of the year is upon us and this means…
IT’S SHOPPING TIME!
How Cash In On The Holiday Season? READ HERE!
How do e-commerce retailers benefit from Amazon Prime Day?
The hottest season of the year for e-commerce retailers would usually start slow, then pick up around the Halloween time, and go nuts around the end of November. Simply put, the closer to the Black Weekend, the higher the demand. This year’s itinerary changes everything, though.
Placing Amazon Prime Day at the very beginning of Q4 was just the kind of move we could expect from a marketing giant like Amazon. But the truth is this is a great opportunity for all e-commerce retailers alike. Boosting interest in online shopping at the very beginning of Q4 means people are only going to browse longer, shop more, and eventually, make retailer’s profits higher than expected.
This is because consumers all over the globe are proactively looking for the best deals on Prime Day — this year combined with the early start of the 2020 Holiday Shopping season. Given the huge surge in user interest, it’s almost impossible for other brands not to detect an increase in sales around this time.
And where’s a general trend for online shopping, there’s definitely a trend for making profits with affiliate marketing.
How to benefit from Amazon Prime Day as an affiliate marketer?
So, how to stand against a marketing and sales giant like Amazon, as well as other big names in the e-commerce industry?
Don’t.
Instead, capitalize on the hype while leveraging the affiliate channel!
Advertisers across all categories report revenue increase in Q4. Given events like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve, there’s always a profit-making angle that can be applied to whatever products affiliate advertisers help to promote. That’s quite a universal rule, really. Simply put, there are numerous ways to drive conversion increases around the time of big shopping events — and Prime Day is one of them.
With October 13th around the corner, have a look at these few hacks affiliate marketers can use to capitalize on consumer excitement. Use the global trend that Q4 key shopping events have already become and drive shoppers to conversion this Prime Day and beyond!
✔︎ Research Amazon Prime Day trends and top-selling products!
Knowing your competitor’s top-selling products, like Prime Day’s favorites, will surely help you decide what to promote yourself. E-commerce is a very broad sector, holding almost every item you could possibly imagine. That makes it a perfect vertical to use for the occasion.
Electronics, home appliances, smart devices, gaming gadgets, music gear, or simply tech novelties — they’re all among the most searched Amazon items. Add books and music, or even artwork and pet accessories, and you’ve got almost every possible angle covered. Given a wide range of affiliate marketing offers that are literally awaiting for affiliate advertisers at this point, any offer can be promoted using the usual means, with an unusual angle.
✔︎ Whatever you plan for Black Friday, try it early!
No affiliate marketer enters Q4 for without a plan. Often it’s already a tried-and-tested marketing strategy that advertisers use year after year. Other times, it’s a brand new, earth-quaking, mind-shuttering, and money-making plan. Built on the latest insights and trends per given year. But the truth is, whether you rely on old-school or entirely new techniques, just start putting them into practice. Right now.
Having Prime Day as an opening event of the Golden Quarter 2020 gives advertisers a unique opportunity the test their strategies much earlier than the peak of the season comes. So, in an unlikely event of your perfect strategy not working out so perfectly, you will always have time to rethink it, analyze it, and optimize it before the peak of the season kicks in.
✔︎ Give people what they desire!
Prime Day is a very unique event. Very often people are extremely determined to find exactly the deals they’re looking for. It’s not rare for customers to build their wishlist months before even Amazon’s birthday arrives. That’s why such a special day deserves a special approach.
Just think how Amazon Prime Day’s top-selling products, hence the top converting ads, are in fact built.
Note what kind of visuals, wording, language, approach, or marketing hacks are most frequently used. Free shipping, ready-made wishlists, customer reviews, early deals, premium deals, limited offers/stock, claims of beating competitor’s deals, or simply announcing having the best deals — if all this works for Prime Day content, it will surely work for your affiliate campaigns, too.
✔︎ Target those who can’t participate or miss Prime Day deals!
Luckily for affiliate marketers, and all those retailers who don’t directly participate in Amazon Prime Day, there are thousands of people who either cannot, forget, or for whatever reason miss the 48-hour deal. Why not add them to your audience?
That’s actually quite a big niche of highly determined clients who are ready to shop. Most probably, they’ll be looking for the best deals, or deals that resemble what they have just missed. If you adjust your ads just right, you’ll be able to tap into a very profitable target audience. And since its the consumer demand, and not a date on a calendar that allows you to maximize your profits, it’d be a shame not to use the opportunity. Especially when it’s clearly present to you on a silver platter. Just keep doing what you were doing and don’t stop once Prime Day is over.
✔︎ Don’t stop once Prime Day is over — Q4 is only beginning!
Yes, the Holiday Shopping season is here, and Q4 2020 will surely keep e-commerce retailers and affiliate advertisers busy like never before. With a prevailing part of the holiday shopping taking place online rather than in brick and mortar stores this year (that’s on a positive note of the Coronavirus situation), the digital industry is already getting ready for what’s to come.
So should you.
Amazon Prime Day 2020 — key insights and statistics.
As could to be expected of Amazon, these guys like to keep certain things for themselves. That’s why they never disclose the total gross sales made on Prime Day. That doesn’t stop the industry from investigating and preparing their own reports or analysis of various sorts. Given the lack of data coming directly from Bezos’s team, we’re grateful to those tediously measuring the market.
So, here’s a quick roundup of numbers and items that made it big on Amazon Prime Day 2019, and those that can potentially kill it this year.
- More than 175 million items were sold in 2019. That’s significantly more than compared to 2018 when circa 100 million products were sold.
- That change was mainly caused by extending the event’s duration from 36h to 48h. This year the 48h time-frame applies.
- Digital sales grew by over 70% in 2019.
- The first wave in 2019 sales was estimated at 2 pm ET, and the second at 6 pm ET. This year may differ as many consumers won’t be affected by the commute or traffic hours if operating in the WFH mode.
- Countries like Spain, Mexico, UAE, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Turkey, and Singapore are among Amazon’s fastest-growing markets during the pandemic. These GEOs and regions they’re located in can make a great targeting decision for affiliate campaigns, too.
What are the most popular products for Amazon Prime Day 2020?
As for top searched products, the following categories are said to win the 2019 edition. These can grow in popularity especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdown causing new trends in, for example, gift or hobby ideas for the season.
- Electronics
- Smart devices
- Home/kitchen appliances,
- Gaming gadgets,
- Music gear,
- Toys and games,
- Health and beauty,
- Clothing and accessories
And in case you’re wondering what items exactly are said to become top-selling products during this year’s Amazon Prime Day, just keep checking what’s being offered as both early deals and during October 13th-14th!
Amazon Prime Day Big dilemma: act now or wait until Black Friday?
Naturally, this dilemma would’ve been nonexistent had the COVID-19 situation never occurred, and Prime Day had taken place in July, as it’s meant to.
But as 2020 has already proven, we shouldn’t expect things to go normal this time around. That’s why Bezos’ team had to really rack their brains how to satisfy the Prime Day demand for deals and bargains while saving themselves time, money, and unique product deals for the upcoming quarter.
Whereas items shopped during the July edition would comply with the seasonal needs of Amazon consumers, given the summer and vacation season, this time these needs aren’t going to be that different. How to prevent a three-month-long sale?
Some say it’s better to go all-in on October 13th, others to hold your horses until November 27th, while there are also voices suggesting considering each deal separately and saving some credit for the deals to come. Whatever piece of advice consumers decide to hold onto, one thing is sure — they will shop, sooner or later, but they eventually will. And they will shop big.
Prime Day Is Here & So Is the Shopping Frenzy
Don’t Miss Out!
Capitalize On The Hype Running Ads In Zeropark
Kinga Gawron
