How to Outsmart Amazon and Win Prime Day Without Selling Your Soul — or Slashing Prices

Amazon Prime Day means different things to different people. To consumers, it's a day (actually a few days) of savings with the world's largest online retailer offering deals to the 200 million-plus consumers with Prime memberships. To retailers, it's a daunting reminder of how challenging it is to compete with a juggernaut of that size.

But competing with Amazon is possible. Rather than a threat to ecommerce, I've found that Amazon Prime Day's rising tide can be used to lift all ecommerce boats if you plan in advance and take a tactical approach. In 2023, the ecommerce industry as a whole saw a 6.1% boost in sales and a 52% increase in clicks during Amazon's two-day event, showing that customers will spend anywhere if retailers can harness the wave of customers Amazon creates. Let's take a look at some strategies you can use as a retailer to get the most out of Amazon Prime Day without feeling like a slave to the beast.

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As the old adage "The Law of the 7 Ps" states, proper prior preparation and planning prevent poor performance, and successful customer acquisition during Prime Day is no exception. Make sure you have sufficient inventory of the products your customers love. It's also a good practice to assess your product inventory to create smart bundles. Small retailers can compete with Amazon by offering discounts on bundled products instead of trying to compete on an individual product basis.

Tiered offers are also a great way to get customers' attention. Offering products at price points that give different benefits or features can attract customers who may otherwise overlook a single product. Microsoft does the "tiered" thing by offering MS Office Standard and the more feature-rich Office Professional.

On top of that, tiered discounts based on quantity or purchase amount can encourage larger orders. For example, a supplement company I worked with offers a "Buy two, get 10% off" as well as "Spend $100, get 15% off," and other variations.

2. Run a parallel campaign or event

Amazon goes out of its way to lather up its customers for the excitement of Prime Day with regular contacts leading up to the event. There's no reason you, as an online retailer, can't do the same. Running email and SMS campaigns parallel to Amazon's can let your customers know that there are more deals to be had than just Amazon's. Campaigns can be focused on high-intent customers whose online behavior and prior purchases can indicate a tendency to purchase high-demand items. High-demand products can be identified by analyzing prior sales data.

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3. Launch and run a 1-2 week lead generation campaign

A great way to bring new customers into your sales funnel is by using a lead generation campaign. I can speak from personal experience about the effectiveness of these campaigns, which I've helped customers implement for many years through content marketing strategies. Quality content helps businesses capture contact information from targeted audiences, creating warm leads that can more easily be converted into customers.

By using up to four cadenced contact points over a couple of weeks through various channels — email, direct mail, SMS, website landing pages, etc. — you can move prospects through your sales funnel and keep them informed about your products, ultimately guiding them to where they can complete their purchase.

4. Create urgency using special offers/discounts

Using special offers has several benefits for an online retailer. First, it provides great flexibility as offers can be almost anything from discounts to promotional products to loyalty programs. Second, it allows retailers to creatively entice customers without necessarily having to offer massive discounts.

Some examples of specials can be as simple as offering discounts on the same day as Prime Day. You can also offer access to limited edition products available exclusively during Prime Day in lieu of discounts. Offering points redeemable at a future date or referral bonuses can also be used instead of discounts.

In order to access Prime Day savings, Amazon customers must first purchase a Prime membership. Online businesses can choose to take the same route by offering a savings membership to their customers, or take the opposite approach by advertising that their discounts require no membership.

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5. Maximize your reach

One thing I always recommend my clients do leading up to and during Prime Day is to harness the power of social media. For more than two decades, I've worked with businesses in this area, and the benefits are almost too numerous to mention. But here are some that can greatly help online retailers.

Promoting your business on social media leading up to Prime Day can increase your brand awareness during a time when there is a marked increase in online shopping. Social platforms make targeted advertising very easy and cost-effective. By responding to questions and using tools such as polls and surveys, social media lets businesses engage with customers directly.

6. Make the customer experience an excellent one

Amazon prides itself on what it refers to as "customer obsession." That philosophy has driven their ability to deliver easy-to-find products, one-click purchases and super-fast delivery. Online retailers competing with Amazon can deliver an excellent experience for their customers by taking a similar approach.

Your website should have intuitive navigation, images that load quickly and display clearly on both desktop and mobile, and data that is easily searchable. I've worked a lot over the years with retailers and e-tailers on product descriptions. Product descriptions should be concise but detailed and the customer's recommendations for purchases should be as personalized as possible, leveraging the customer's purchase history to suggest items that have the most relevance.

The checkout process should be streamlined, allowing the customer to move quickly from shopping cart to checkout to order confirmation and summary with minimal hassle. Order fulfillment should be a combination of an adequate inventory that meets product demand, coupled with fast and reliable shipping. Finally, multiple channels should be available to assist customers with any issues that arise.

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7. Encourage post-purchase engagement

An effort should be made to engage with customers after their purchase. This gives the retailer an opportunity to find out how their purchase experience was and keeps the customer engaged with your brand. This is where the information you collect during lead generation can help you. You can send customers SMS messages to their mobile phones, emails to their inboxes and special communications for occasions like birthdays or seasonal promotions.

Amazon Prime Day is an opportunity for online businesses to take advantage of increased consumer traffic and provide products and services to savings-conscious consumers. By staying engaged with your existing customers before, during and after the purchase, retailers can boost sales while strengthening their customer relationships. Generating qualified leads can inject new customers into your sales funnel.