By Alicia Fiorletta, Senior Editor
Following its first-ever Prime Day, Amazon reported pivotal results. Worldwide order growth increased 266% over the same day last year, and eclipsed Black Friday by 18%. It is evident that Amazon achieved its goals: Not only did the online giant boost sales and beat out Black Friday results, it also generated a surplus of media buzz.
Sure, the quality of the deals was questionable, and consumers and industry players had mixed feedback on Prime Day. But Amazon’s success points to the profit potential of branded holidays. That means retailers will no longer need to wait for the holiday season, back-to-school, Columbus Day or any of the other landmark calendar holidays. Instead, they can create a shopping holiday that’s relevant to the brand and separate from the retail pack.
“Amazon Prime day was a milestone – eclipsing Black Friday in volume – and it shows retailers generate online consumer behavior on their own, without a holiday,” noted David Hsieh, VP of Marketing at Instart Logic. “With an increasing number of shoppers electing to shop on their own schedules, not on set times by retailers, the importance of e-Commerce site performance is greater than ever.”
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Hsieh’s point is supported by Amazon’s experience. When Prime Day officially kicked off, consumers were faced with sluggish load times and spotty performance overall. While it is imperative for retailers to leave their customers begging for more, this left an especially poor taste in people’s mouths.
It also can be argued that Prime Day fell short in several other areas. As noted above, most of the “groundbreaking sales and deals” were on very obscure products. Most consumers were expecting slashed prices on electronics, but for the most part, they were left sifting through a bizarre assortment of dish soap, chefs hats, five-pound bags of red hots and beard growers. Very strange.
So as retailers look back on Prime Day and consider whether to create their own branded shopping holiday, Hsieh points to three takeaways and lessons learned:
- Set expectations carefully: Social media feedback showed that consumer expectations were higher than what Amazon actually offered.
- Test thoroughly to make sure every transaction gets handled quickly and successfully at peak load: “There were some complaints about site performance, which affects revenue and customer satisfaction.”
- Optimize the user experience to make sure the site design is fast and fluid: Shoppers expect to have fast and easy access to deals. But they also want to make intelligent buying decisions by accessing product descriptions and images, according to Hsieh. “Site design and performance go hand-in-hand. A fast-performing site gives designers more flexibility and merchandisers the ability to include more product content.”
What were your thoughts on Prime Day? Will your retail business hold a similar shopping holiday as a result of Amazon’s success? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
