Prime Big Deal Days are just around the corner, taking place on October 8–9, 2024. This is your opportunity to maximize sales and boost brand exposure on Amazon. However, with so much at stake, even experienced sellers can fall into some common traps.
Below, we highlight 9 mistakes you should avoid and how marketplace integration software can help improve the efficiency of your operations, keeping your sales on track for this early peak season event.
1. Over-discounting products
Slashing prices on low-margin items may seem like a good strategy to drive sales, but it can quickly eat into your profits. Instead of applying blanket discounts across your inventory, focus on a smarter approach.
Use advanced pricing rules to adjust prices strategically. This way, you can maintain profitability while still offering competitive discounts. It’s all about balancing your margins and not letting deep discounts eat away at your earnings.
2. Underestimating inventory needs
Running out of stock during Prime Big Deal Days is a nightmare for any seller. This can lead to a significant drop in your rankings and lost sales. Stockouts during key sales events can result in a loss of up to 15% in potential revenue, according to an Adobe report on holiday shopping trends.
To avoid stockouts, you must prepare your inventory levels well in advance. With a platform like ChannelEngine, you can easily manage your Amazon inventory and sync stock levels across all your sales channels, including other marketplaces and your webshop.
Ensure your customers can purchase without frustration and don’t let stockouts cost you potential revenue during such a high-stakes event.
3. Last-minute planning
Many sellers find themselves scrambling at the last minute more often than they'd like to admit. And the consequences of rushing through your setup can be costly. Poor last-minute planning increases your chances of making critical mistakes.
For instance, without the right pricing rules in place, you could lose the Buy Box to competitors who are better prepared, resulting in decreased visibility and fewer sales.
Additionally, incomplete or poorly optimized product listings can hurt your ranking, making it harder for customers to find your products. This is especially problematic during Prime Big Deal Days, where competition is fierce, and any slip-up can lead to lost revenue and dissatisfied customers. It’s not just about missing out on a sale or two, it’s about losing your competitive edge when it matters most.
But don’t worry, here’s a quick checklist that can help ensure that you’re as prepared as possible for Amazon Prime Big Deal Day. Even with limited time, ChannelEngine can help you cover your bases:
4. Unprepared fulfillment operations
Fulfillment issues like delayed shipments can severely damage your reputation during an event like Prime Big Deal Days. Your customers expect fast and accurate deliveries, especially during major sales events. If your fulfillment isn’t ready for the surge, you risk losing both sales and customer trust.
Imagine surpassing your sales expectations, only to realize that the vans arriving to pick up orders are too small to handle the increased volume. This could lead to delayed deliveries, marketplace penalties, and unhappy customers leaving negative reviews.
To avoid such scenarios, partnering with a trusted fulfillment provider is essential.
5. Poor listing optimization
Your product listings are the first impression you make on potential buyers. If your listings aren’t optimized with the right keywords or enhanced images, you risk being overlooked. But with features like smart mapping, you can automatically map attributes, ensuring that your listings are well-optimized across platforms. This boosts your visibility and helps drive conversions.
6. Lack of competitor analysis
Failing to monitor your competitors' pricing can put you at a disadvantage. And keeping an eye on your competitors is especially important if you want to win the Buy Box.
"With perfect offers, a buy box percentage of 92% can be achieved. However, achieving a 100% buy box win rate might suggest that prices are set too low, meaning sellers could be missing opportunities to increase margins. As a result, this scenario is not always desirable."- Twan Rutten
Strategic Business Growth Lead at ChannelEngine
However, this is usually easier said than done if you plan on monitoring prices manually. Instead, consider using a dynamic repricer - a tool that automatically adjusts your pricing based on real-time data, helping you stay competitive without sacrificing profit.
7. Ignoring customer engagement
Ignoring customer questions and reviews in real-time can hurt your conversion rates. During busy sales events, shoppers may have urgent queries, and responding quickly can make all the difference.
The usage of AI in ecommerce is booming, and you can start adopting this by using AI tools to handle basic customer inquiries and auto-responses until a human agent can take over. This ensures that customers feel acknowledged, even if you’re too busy to respond immediately. Responsiveness during peak times can lead to higher customer satisfaction and increased sales.
8. Neglecting ad optimization
Leaving your PPC campaigns unmonitored during Prime Big Deal Days can lead to wasted ad spend and missed sales opportunities. According to a Feedvisor report, ad spend increased by 31% during Amazon Prime Day 2022.
While this stat reflects a different Amazon event, it highlights the importance of monitoring and optimizing your ad campaigns to make the most of high-traffic sales periods like Prime Big Deal Days. Failing to do so can prevent you from reaching the right customers at the right time.
9. Mobile unfriendliness
With mobile transactions surging, not optimizing your store for mobile can mean missed opportunities. More than 50% of Amazon shoppers make purchases via mobile apps during major sales events like Prime Big Deal Days.
If your store isn’t optimized for mobile devices, you could be losing a significant portion of your audience. Ensure your listings, checkout process, and overall customer experience are mobile-friendly to capture these sales and improve the overall shopping experience.
Ensure success with ChannelEngine
In conclusion, while Prime Big Deal Days offers an unparalleled opportunity to boost your sales and brand visibility, avoiding these common mistakes is crucial to ensure your success. By preparing your inventory, fine-tuning your pricing strategy, optimizing listings, and staying on top of fulfillment and advertising, you’ll be better equipped to handle the sales surge.
To help you stay on track, we’ve put together a simple, no-fuss checklist designed specifically for Prime Big Deal Days.
Let ChannelEngine streamline your ecommerce operations, so you can make the most of Prime Big Deal Days without unnecessary stress!
