Desperately Seeking Prime Day

In the 1985 movie Desperately Seeking Susan a bored Roberta (played by Rosanna Arquette) leaves her dull life in search of adventure and meets Susan (played by Madonna). Needless to say, she gets her wish and lives an exciting life for a little while. Fast forward to 2021 and the Canadian retail industry is in desperate need of the same. Amazon is running its Prime Day event this week except for the Canadian and Indian markets – for obvious reasons, we are still fighting COVID-19. But how will the industry make up what has become a pseudo black Friday in July?

              Amazon’s Prime Day started in 2015 to celebrate the twenty-year anniversary of the go live date of the ubiquitous site and ten years since the Prime membership program had been in operation. Lasting twenty-four hours, this deal extravaganza was available in nine countries. By 2020, Prime day had become a two-day event across nineteen countries and became a major industry-wide shopping spree, albeit in October. Over 150 million Prime members power this party which sets new sales records every year it runs. In 2020, Prime members saved approximately $ 1.4 billion US on event specials.

And it isn’t just Amazon’s own products that benefit from the sale. Amazon’s third-party sellers generated sales of $ 3.5 billion US during 2020’s event – an increase of almost sixty percent! In fact, Amazon has some thirty-thousand third-party sellers that count on it’s marketplace to reach thousands of customers in Canada and around the world. These sellers sold over half of all the units sold on Amazon Canada as of October 2020. That’s a lot! The average ring of each of these businesses was about $ 110,000 CDN which grew from $ 65,000 the year before. More of these companies are leveraging Amazon’s reach to sell more. The number of third-party sellers that sold $ 1 Million CDN or more on the site grew by 80% as of the same time frame. Where do they fit in now?

Not to mention all the other retailers that use Prime Day’s excitement to offer sales of their own. Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Home Depot and many others have taken advantage of the event to create excitement and drive traffic. The event creates a buzz in retail when things are a little – dare I say boring. It gets consumers in the mood to shop. Gives them a warm up for the 4th quarter when much of retail takes place. This year being what it is, we could have used Prime Day like never before – to provide a shot of adrenaline to our economy and hear digital cash registers ring for the first time in a while.

So, without a Prime Day in Canada this summer, what are we to do? Will the industry come together and create a similar e-commerce event so Canadian consumers can burn off some of that cash they have been sitting on? How will small and medium sized businesses participate?

Will another retailer step up and play the role? Can they? Do they have the assortment breadth and depth? Do they have the infrastructure? Do they have the inventory? Retail supply chains are still a little messy in case you haven’t heard. Demand has begun to surge in markets like the U.S where the economy has already opened up. There aren’t enough containers and ships to bring merchandise from Asia to the rest of the world. Those who can get their product are paying astronomical freight rates which will lead to higher prices at retail.

I call on all retailers, big and small to create something special this summer. Every business should get online and negotiate eye-popping deals with suppliers. Call them Canada Day specials if you have to. Get customers thinking about retail again. With lingering depts incurred to survive the pandemic, suffice it to say that all retailers, especially small to medium sized and non-essential retailers need the cash flow like never before.

Amazon, if you are listening, please don’t forget about us! Don’t forget about Canada and our thirty-eight million pop drinking, ketchup chip eating, snow shoveling, parka wearing citizens from around the world who call this nation home! We are in desperate need of some excitement to celebrate our eventual re-opening and kick off of the roaring twenty’s in style! Until we meet again Prime Day, I remain.

Bruce Winder

Retail Analyst & Author

If you are interested in additional retail analysis and commentary consider picking up RETAIL Before, During & After COVID-19 at Amazon on the link below:

https://www.amazon.ca/RETAIL-Before-During-After-COVID-19/dp/B089M61PB4