For SMB (small to medium business) owners, Amazon’s Marketplace can be a great resource to build a solid customer base and begin spreading brand awareness. Most eCommerce shop owners use multiple platforms to sell their products, including their own website and Amazon Marketplace amongst other options.
When you opt to become a seller through the retailer’s marketplace, you become a part of the Amazon corporation, which has garnered quite an exceptional reputation. Making up 49 percent of the eCommerce industry in 2018, Amazon offers SMBs an outlet to sell products to the tens of millions of daily users.
Held each year by the eCommerce giant, Amazon Prime Day typically happens around mid-July and lasts between 24 to 36 hours. Amazon and its millions of third-party sellers offer discounts and promotions exclusively to Prime members for a limited amount of time. This year, start prepping for the event early by implementing some of these top marketing strategies.
In 2005, just over 10 years after its founding, Amazon launched a Prime membership subscription offer, which is now estimated to have more than 100 million members in the U.S. alone. With this annual subscription, members are privy to exclusive discounts, free two-day shipping and access to the site’s once-a-year event Amazon Prime Day.
For 36 hours, Prime members can discover steep discounts on top products offered by both Amazon itself and marketplace sellers. Many members wait for this summer event, which usually takes place in July, to get an early jump on Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping or make large purchases on typically expensive items. eCommerce merchants can take advantage of the traffic surge by offering discounts and special products during the sale.
When developing a promotional marketing plan for your eCommerce business, you should begin by setting attainable goals, identify your target demographic and determine which platforms you’re going to use—in this case, Amazon Marketplace.
Your goal may be to introduce a new product line or clear your inventory of a seasonal product that you don’t plan to restock. Determine how to best attract your target market to these products and then decide what type of discount you can offer that will offer a positive return for your company. On Amazon Prime Day, it’s not necessary to discount all of your products. You can offer special promotions on specific items and then run campaigns to highlight these specials.
Adding your products to the Amazon Marketplace may be simple enough, but much like ranking with Google or other search engines, you must implement SEO strategies to help Amazon users locate your products. Typically, you want your items to come up on the first page of results. When it comes to Amazon, shoppers tend to scroll through more pages than those who are browsing search engine results, but your goal should still be to rank among the first few Amazon product results.
To optimize your listings, follow many of the same SEO rules such as including keywords in your product descriptions and titles. You should also carefully consider the photos that you include for each product. Higher quality and multiple angle images tend to attract more shoppers. When Amazon Prime Day rolls around, having your product listings optimized will lead more traffic to your pages.
Tracking your inventory is vital to running a successful eCommerce business. There are dozens of programs out there that can be integrated with all of the platforms that you use to market and sell your products. With the right program, you can easily identify which products are top-sellers. That way, you can stock up prior to Amazon Prime Day, and if you are having trouble moving any products, you can include those items in your deals as a method of stock clearing.
Shoppers are always attracted by a great deal, especially on a day when they’re already expecting major savings. To lead more potential customers to your Amazon store, try cross-promoting Amazon Prime Day with other upcoming holidays such as back-to-school shopping or Labor Day.
Use effective marketing lingo to entice shoppers and help them feel as though they’re saving money and purchasing items (like school supplies) in advance at a discounted rate. Cross-promoting demonstrates the value of your products and adds a sense of urgency.
–
Let Springbot help you create marketing strategies for Amazon Prime Day and promote your sales through our email marketing and social media campaigns. This annual sale event is the perfect time to attract new customers and implement strategies to turn one-time buyers into loyal, lifetime customers.