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It’s happening. According to The History of Prime Day, a blog post published the same day as Q1’s results, we can expect Amazon Prime Day 2022 to take place in July. So, now would be a good time to start making those preparations.
When is Amazon Prime Day 2022?
With the exception of the last 2 years, Amazon Prime Day always takes place mid-July and lasts for 2 days, give or take some pre-sale days. So, this year, we’re looking at Mon, July 18 and the day after. But nothing’s set in stone yet. So, don’t rule out the week before.
What’s Amazon Prime Day About?
Amazon’s birthday is July 5. To mark the occasion, it has hosted a Prime Day event every year since 2015. The first-ever Prime Day got mixed reactions, but it’s been going from strength to strength ever since. Not just profit-wise, but mainly in terms of recruiting Prime members.
What Are the Cut-Off Dates for Prime Day 2022?
This year, nearly 60% of people in the USA over the age of 18 will become Prime users, according to eMarketer.
So, it’s safe to assume that Amazon’s 28th birthday party will come with more time-bound deals than ever, including Lightning Deals, 7-Day Deals, and Goldbox offers.
In fact, Prime Early Access deals are already going live.
These are 30-minute tasters of the Lightning Deals shoppers should expect on Amazon Prime Day 2022.
If they’re featured on Prime Day or the rest of that week, each listing will cost $500 or $300 per deal, respectively.
The deals submission window closed on April 29 this year.
All FBA shipments should be in by June 20 to have any chance of being featured on Prime Day.
But sellers can still set up coupons and Prime Exclusive Discounts from the Advertising menu for display on Amazon Prime Day 2022.
What Happened on Prime Day 2021?
The year 2021 was full of surprises. As chronicled in our Lessons Learned post, Amazon introduced free replacements for MFN orders, featured count-down timers on every page, showcased influencers on Amazon Live, and sold more private-label household and pet care items than tech products.
Amazon Brands and Own Brands tabs were available on all pages except the homepage.
Small brands were eligible for the Spend 10, Get 10 promo, where Amazon gave buyers a $10 credit.
Also, the Amazon app featured trending and best-rated Prime Day Deals throughout the event.
The average ROAS was 30% and CPCs grew by a quarter, according to Bobsled Marketing.
But shoppers spent only $44.75 on average and less than $20 per order.
According to PracticalEcommerce, Amazon’s main user base (suburban middle-aged women), was thriftier than in previous years.
How to Prepare for Amazon Prime Day 2022
If last year’s Prime Day event is any indication of how things will pan out this time around, sellers will need to pull out all the stops.
Here are 15 Prime Day Prep tips for sellers who want to make sure their offers are seen, liked, and converted:
- Maintain an IPI of no less than 400 in mid-May and at the end of June to avoid FBA inventory storage limits and overage fees.
- Check the new Manage Inventory Health page often, compare with the IPI dashboard, check unfulfillable inventory, and resolve inactive or risky listings.
- Send FBA shipments in well before the cut-off date of June 20 to maximize chances of being featured on the day.
- Purge your inventory of slow-movers by July 15 to avoid paying LTSFs on Prime Day week.
- Closer to the day, check the Lightning Deals dashboard to see which items have qualified. Then check if the competition stocks these items.
- Assume they will be promoting them, and adapt your pricing strategy for these and similar items accordingly.
- Make sure you have at least 10 seller ratings over the past 365 years. Otherwise, Amazon will take your overall score into consideration. At the very least, merchants need 4 instances of seller feedback to be eligible for deals. The minimum score is 3.5 for sellers and 3 for vendors.
- Use social media to remind buyers that your offers will be available on Prime Day, that they should join Lightning Deals waitlists, and that they will have only 15 minutes to place their orders.
- Set a reminder to create coupons no later than 2 days prior to Prime Day, so that they go live on time.
- Prime Rewards Visa cards come with a $50 welcome bonus and a $100 gift card on approval. Consider pricing your items so that they’re well within the $150 limit.
- Stock up on items that qualify for tax-deductible expenses, so that you can recoup some of the cost if they don’t sell.
- Give Buy with Prime a try. As an FBA seller, you can sell items on your own website using the Prime logo and checkout tool. As an MFN seller, you’ll need to wait for an invitation first.
- Give Buy with Prime a try. As an FBA seller, you can sell items on your own website using the Prime logo and checkout tool. As an MFN seller, you’ll need to wait for an invitation first.
- Start promoting your website and the Buy with Prime feature now. But be aware that Amazon will gain more visibility into your business if you use the Prime checkout feature on your website.
- Stock up on items you could sell for under $50, which is what most shoppers will be willing to spend.
- Diversify your inventory with items other than tech, books, toys, and pet care products. With travel restrictions gone and holiday bookings up, people’s shopping lists will be very different this summer than they were in recent years.
- Up your repricing game. Try an off-the-shelf, easy-to-use, automatic repricer like BuyBoxBuddy for a hands-off approach to repricing and winning the Buy Box on Amazon Prime Day 2022.
To celebrate Amazon Prime Day 2022 event, check out our free trial offer. Sign up for BuyBoxBuddy today, and you’ll get a 15-day full-feature trial. That’s 15 days of repricing, SmartLists, and all the analytics showcased in the video above.
Why not give it a go in time for July, and see if it’s the right repricer for you before early deals start? That’s it for now, but please follow our blog for more tips in the lead-up to Amazon Prime Day 2022. After all, not knowing when is Amazon Prime Day 2022 is not nearly as bad as not doing anything about it.
Melanie takes an active interest in all things Amazon. She keeps an eye on the latest developments and keeps Amazon sellers up to speed.