While no documented sales figures exist, analysts estimated that during last year’s Prime Day shoppers spent $4.2 billion.
Amazon’s fifth annual Prime Day will start at midnight PT / 3 a.m. ET on July 15.
After last year’s 36-hour event, this year’s Prime Day will run for 48 hours. This two-day shopping frenzy targets members of Amazon’s highly successful Prime premium loyalty program.
On Prime Day, which is the summer version of Black Friday or Cyber Monday, Amazon offers a multitude of attractive deals across various product categories.
While this is a huge summer event for Amazon, what does it mean for other retailers?
Prime Day Is About Acquisition
While everyone talks about the sales records set on Prime Day, it’s really all about acquisition for Amazon.
Even more important than the record-breaking sales was the fact that Prime Day 2018 saw more Prime membership signups than ever before.
Prime members have always been Amazon’s most loyal customers. And Prime eclipsed 100 million members in April 2018.
They exhibit their loyal shopping behavior throughout the year and certainly on Prime Day. So, what does this mean for other retailers?
A premium loyalty program like Prime gets a retailer’s best customers to engage more often and spend more when they do.
Prime members spend more than twice as much as non-Prime members.
Prime Day 2019 is a great opportunity to get customers to sign up for your loyalty program as well.
Seize Prime Day for Your Customers
As a retailer, you should think of making Prime Day an event of your own. You can also offer your customers special deals and lower prices.
Big name brands like Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and Macy’s have offered such deals in the past and will likely once again.
In fact, Target announced Target Deal Days – its biggest sale of the summer – with no membership required to shop thousands of deals.
On July 15-16, customers can enjoy deals on top national and only-at-Target brands across categories like home and apparel. And customers can use Target’s same-day delivery and pickup options.
Riding Amazon’s coattails on Prime Day is a wise strategic choice for retailers. Research shows that more than 75% of Prime Day shoppers in the U.S. visit competitor websites to make sure they’re getting the best deals.
Many competing retailers offer targeted promotional campaigns and leverage Prime Day with Back-to-School sales. Retailers also target consumers in the few days after Prime Day since some might have missed the two-day event but are still interested in attractive summer bargains.
Keep This in Mind on Prime Day
As big as Prime Day is for Amazon, it is becoming increasingly important for other retailers as well.
Retailers seek to leverage the massive online presence of shoppers, along with turning it into their own respective summer promotional campaigns.
Given its massive success, Prime Day has become a huge event for other retailers willing to seize the occasion. It’s a great time to provide a great experience and get your customers signed up for your own loyalty program.
Here are some key themes for you to remember as you create your own game plans for Prime Day and beyond:
Your Loyalty Program Needs to be Unique for Your Customers
- One-size-fits-all loyalty programs don’t create loyalty.
- Every retailer and every audience are unique.
- You need to build a loyalty program that your customers find their own unique value in such as Prime.
Transactional Benefits and Experiential Benefits Need to Work Together
- There is a focus on experiential benefits in the loyalty industry.
- Transactional benefits are still important because they make consumers feel smart.
- Experiential benefits make consumers feel special and allow deeper differentiation.
Prime Day is About Creating Better Customer Moments
Loyalty is developed through a series of moments, not just transactions.
Prime Day is an event that causes consumers to be more receptive to experiencing brand moments.
That’s why it’s so important for other retailers to take advantage.
As you prepare for Prime Day and try to make this 48-hour event special for your customers, keep that in mind.
Don’t you want to create the same emotional connections with your loyalty program members as Amazon has?
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ebbo helps brands achieve their customer loyalty goals with full-service, end-to-end solutions and also creates original educational content straight from the experts to help loyalty marketers stay on the cutting edge of customer engagement.