if we took a holiday took some time to celebrate (7.19.24)

It’s Prime Week for Amazon and nearly every brand that sent me a promotional email with the word ‘prime’ in it. Whether you’re a major retailer like Target, an independent retailer, or the local exterminator, everyone seems to be attempting to tap into the halo effect of Amazon Prime Days.?

Traditional shopping occasions (e.g., shifts in seasons, back-to-school, holiday season) and events (e.g., Black Friday, Cyber Monday, often tied to the holiday shopping season) seem to be melting into an always-on cauldron. Consumers aren’t always sure when the next major sales occasion like Prime Day will be, but they are always on the hunt to determine when it’s coming and if it offers a true steal.?

Prime Day, launched in 2015, was initially developed as a 24-hour event in 9 countries to celebrate Amazon’s 20th birthday by offering “a volume of deals greater than Black Friday, exclusively for Prime members.” Fast forward to 2024’s 10th annual Prime Day, which clocks in as a two-day extravaganza in over 20 countries, with new deals dropping every few minutes during select periods to lure consumers throughout the 48 hours, as well as invite-only deals for Prime members. Leading up to Prime Day, Prime members had access to early deals to drive the idea of ‘shop early, shop often’. Other updates include a restructuring of their Deals page to lean more into personalized recommendations vs. blanket Deals, resulting in brands getting less exposure, but trafficked towards customers who are more incentivized to purchase. The challenge here is how a brand can acquire new customers without broad awareness exposure. Wisely, Amazon kept Prime Day in mid-July, a time when sales are usually slower for retailers, as there’s no critical shopping occasion or event.

This year (at time of publishing) Adobe Analytics data claimed that during the 48 hours of Prime Day consumers spent $14.2 billion online across ecommerce (i.e. not JUST across Amazon), with 11% growth year-over-year from $12.7 billion in 2023. Sales totaled $7.2 billion on the first day (July 16) and $7 billion on the second day (July 17), with most spending growth coming from net new demand (vs. inflation). According to Amazon, via Amazon alone independent sellers sold more than 200 million items, and Prime day broke its own record sales (without sharing specific amounts).

Pretty impressive for the ecommerce ecosystem at large, and not bad for a manufactured event created by Amazon.?

As a result of the growth and impact on consumer behavior, Amazon’s competitors have changed their sales calendars to align (cough, compete) with Amazon’s Prime Day (e.g., Walmart+ Week, Walmart Deals, Target Circle Week) in hopes of capitalizing on consumers who are already primed to seek deals and make purchases they likely wouldn’t have made at this time of year. Many are pushing their memberships, comparable to how Amazon uses Prime Day to push Prime subscriptions, with the hope that exclusive deals and offers will keep consumers within their commerce ecosystems. We’re even seeing newer commerce players like TikTok announcing their own "Deals For You Days” July event to leverage the power of their influencers and creators on the platform. This will yield interesting insights regarding the impact of short-form influencer videos compared to search-based shopping sources like Amazon. Amazon has already changed consumer expectations and challenged the notion of online retail by setting new baselines in speed, ease, customer service, and personalization. In fact, according to Investopedia, the ‘Amazon Effect’ is known as “the impact created by the online, ecommerce, or digital marketplace on the traditional brick-and-mortar business model that is the result of the change in shopping patterns, customer expectations, and the industry's competitive landscape.” Manufactured shopping events like Prime Day continue to solidify the ‘Effect’ and drive change in an already-shifting commerce landscape.

Fun fact: Brand-created shopping events and occasions aren’t necessarily new. In fact, the retailer-created annual Nordstrom Anniversary Sale’s origins trace back to 1925 and was one of the first annual sales a retailer turned into an occasion consumers counted down to, with a strong marketing and media strategy to match (complete with influencers aplenty, tiered ability for early access to drive loyalty memberships, and more).

There are plenty of lessons brands can learn from these emerging brand-created shopping events, such as the influence of urgency, the opportunities of omnichannel strategies, the power of community, and more. However, the one that stands out is the ability to create surprise and delight when it’s least expected – like creating an arbitrary shopping holiday in the middle of July. Comparable to other traditional ‘tentpoles,’ when developing your brand’s strategy, it’s critical to understand not only when consumers are most likely to think of your brand or category to ensure you show up when they need you most, but also to consider when they’re not keeping you or your category top of mind. This helps to better understand the reasons behind their behavior. Within those insights likely hides the opportunity to show up in unpredictable ways when you’re least expected. It unlocks the potential to deliver surprise and delight. How can you show up differently to amaze and enchant your consumers? How can you create your own tentpole-esque opportunity to build brand equity and reputation?