Make your own Prime Day deals: Competing with Amazon and other giants
You might feel like it's impossible to compete with the giants, whether it's on Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday, Target Deal Days, or Walmart's "Big Save" online event. But you can be the David to the Goliath of these retailers and position your store to take advantage of the excitement brought on by these savings events.
While all these buying events influence shoppers, Amazon mainly primes wallets to spill over to non-Amazon retailers, calling it the Prime Day halo effect. So if you're not selling on Amazon, you're not out of the loop.
Benefitting from Amazon's Prime Day Halo Effect
Amazon Prime Day is earlier than usual this year, but the Prime Day halo effect will still be in full force across the entire retail industry with high Google searches. Consumers aren't only interested in Amazon, and the first two to four weeks after Prime Day are wildly profitable to retailers, according to the CEO of Evolv Technologies, Michael Scharff.
During Prime Day, we've seen trends like:
Google Shopping mobile impressions see a 58% spike (Search Engine Land)
Web traffic up 51% to non-Amazon retailers (Digital Commerce 360)
69% global growth in online sales for non-Amazon retailers (Digital Commerce 360)
The Prime Day halo effect means the retail industry gets a shopping activity boost with customers looking for deals and quick shipping. But why might consumers be looking at other channels than Amazon?
Consumers have expressed losing trust in the marketplace with fake product reviews
Shop local movement has inspired shoppers to support small businesses and make sure Amazon doesn't take a 15% commission fee
Some shoppers claim to find better deals elsewhere
Not everyone wants to pay $120/ year or $13/month for a Prime membership
Concerns about Amazon's treatment of employees and delivery drivers
Complaints are rising about unreliable delivery with Amazon's third-party delivery companies
Unsustainable and environmentally harmful packaging
6 ways to compete with Amazon and big retailers
1. Clear, flexible shipping
One of the biggest reasons consumers choose Amazon is the promise of receiving a purchase in a short amount of time. But many of us know from experience that some delivery companies Amazon employs can be unreliable at times. To match or go beyond what Amazon is offering, consider giving your customers these perks for a limited time:
Free shipping or delivery and removing the minimum order spend threshold.
Make sure you don't cut off your profitability. Learn about reducing shipping costs for small businesses.
Let customers make shipping changes up until the day before the order ships.
Being flexible and letting your customers know about this offering is a great loyalty booster. You can easily make changes to shipping addresses using the Edit Order Shopify app. Mention this offer in a free-shipping bar or an order confirmation email.
Set a guaranteed shipping date for your customer's peace of mind.
Move your products to the Shopify Fulfillment Network (SFN) to take care of shipping.
US merchants can capitalize on this to make sure delivery costs and times stay down. You'll need to follow a few steps to prepare your products, like checking their eligibility for the SFN and making sure all your products have SKUs and barcodes. To learn more about getting started with the Shopify Fulfillment Network, click here.
2. Discounts
Did you know that sellers can't offer their own discount codes through Amazon? Capitalize on the opportunity to release discount codes during a selling event like Amazon Prime Days and let your customers know ahead of time. Your customers are already bargain hunting, so creating buzz for discount codes is definitely worth your while. You can incorporate some strategies we mention later in this article into your discount codes, like creating personalized codes for your customers or working with influencers to give them a code to share with their audience.
3. Bundles
Sellers can't create their own bundle products on the Amazon marketplace, but Amazon does recommend similar products customers can bundle together. Whether Amazon recommends your products is not guaranteed. You have the authority to bundle your products together on your online store to generate buzz with your products. There are many different bundles you can create, but we recommend these bundles for competing with Amazon:
Value bundle: Using a perceived discount to bundle similar products together. This is excellent for selling slow-moving and excess inventory too!
Cross-sell bundles: Use a theme to bundle complementary products together. Also great for bringing awareness to new products
Bonus-gift bundle: Bundle a specific product with a gift or bonus accessory
Learn more about how you can make more money selling bundles
Selling bundles might seem like a daunting task to get up and running quickly, but it doesn't have to be. To get a leg up on the competition with bundles, streamline the fulfillment process using Edit Order for bundle automation on Shopify.
4. Personalization
Adding personalization to your customer's purchases is another way you can thrive without Amazon. Customers have a growing want for personalization in ecommerce. According to Infosys, 86% of customers who have experienced personalization while shopping say that it influences their purchase. Here are some ways you can add a personal touch to keep your customers coming back and referring others:
Personalized discount codes
Including thank-you notes and small add-ons like branded stickers or pins
Allow customers to add a custom touch to their products like monograms. Check out this blog about how you can add customization to orders.
Amazon sellers don't get access to their customer details because Amazon owns the customer info, so including personal add-ons to your orders will give your store a retention boost. It's easy to get this done with automation through your Shopify store. Check out this blog post about adding promo automation to your Shopify store.
5. Scarcity
Amazon Prime Day started as a test to see if they could create their own holiday retail experience. One of the main reasons it was so successful is because it introduced scarcity. The event started as a 24-hour event but has since become longer to accommodate international buyers. Creating scarcity for your sales and promotions increases the attractiveness of your products because shoppers tend to want stuff that is harder to get or in limited supply. You can introduce scarcity into your campaigns in many ways. Here are some examples:
Download scarcity apps to your Shopify store to demonstrate how many of a particular product is in people's carts or how many people are viewing the product
Have your sale running for a limited time only, i.e. Up to 40% off until June 30th!
Include the number of stock left for each item
If you always ship your products at a specific time of day, include a shipping window that will let them get their product sooner.
Create a "Lightening deals" collection where discounts are only offered on certain products for one day
You can read more about creating scarcity for your store from this great article.
6. Use influencers and micro-influencers
Influencers help your brand create persuasive content and get the word out about your product to their specialized niche. There are many ways you can work with them, like offering them their personalized discount code to send their audience for a portion of the sales they bring in, hosting a giveaway, sending them a free product in exchange for some exposure on their platform. Micro-influencers are great to partner with too, because their smaller audience gives them improved authenticity, higher engagement, and they'll be less expensive to work with. When finding influencers to work with, consider the following:
Reach and followers
Engagement with their audience
Their platform(s). How many channels do they operate on?
Reputation
Content and publishing frequency
Audience
Price
To find influencers that are a good fit for your product niche and budget, check out platforms like Brandbassador.
Business doesn’t stop at Prime Day. So what’s next?
Fill your toolbox with these helpful tips on making more money with bundling
Increase your Shopify store’s efficiency with this guide to promo automation
Create a better retail experience with this great resource on scarcity
