In 2015, the first annual Amazon Prime Day was a huge success for the marketplace and it returns again this year with plans of exceeding last year’s sale success. According to sales data by ChannelAdvisor, Amazon grew 93% year-over-year on Prime day.
But what does this mean for third-party marketplace sellers?
“Prime Day is an opportunity for marketplace sellers to take advantage of a huge promotional opportunity during a day of high volume shopping,” said ChannelAdvisor CEO David Spitz. “Amazon has created a holiday in July with Prime Day, and it gives its third-party sellers a chance to see a nice spike in sales during a typically slow retail season.”
Spitz said it will be interesting to see if this year is bigger and better. He said he imagines Amazon will add more selection and more deals to this year’s Prime Day.
“Last year, Prime Day was more of a promotional event to get consumers to sign up for a Prime membership ahead of the holidays,” said Spitz. “This year, Prime Day feels like its own holiday, especially with Amazon offering countdown deals from July 5 through July 11.”
Spitz said third-party marketplace sellers can expect to be working late to fulfill orders, answer customer service questions, and other activities that are involved with running an ecommerce business on a popular shopping day.
“We’ll be watching closely to see if the second annual Prime Day picks up steam and sees even better numbers this year,” said Spitz.
Daniela Forte is Multichannel Merchant’s Associate Editor.