Amazon Prime Day 2018

How a One-Day Promotion Changed the Back-to-School Season, and What Marketers Can Do Around This New Shopping Holiday

In just its third year of existence, Amazon Prime Day 2017 drove all-time sales records for Amazon while posting huge gains from the previous year. By featuring aggressive promotions on both hot-sellers and everyday products, Amazon captured the attention and interest of American shoppers to the tune of $1 billion in sales, according to industry estimates. The creation of this midsummer shopping holiday has fundamentally changed shopping patterns leading into the important back-to-school season, and marketers are responding with new strategies to take advantage of opportunities to sell on the platform and compete more effectively in an increasingly Amazon-driven retail environment.

  • Amazon Prime Day continues to grow quickly, boasting year-over-year gains of 60% each of the past two years.
  • Amazon Prime membership has surged past 50 million households in the US, as consumers continue to respond to incentives such as free two-day shipping, and access to Prime Video, Prime Music and Prime Reading.
  • While Prime Day is ostensibly a drive for new Prime memberships, it is also about deepening relationships with existing Prime members and expanding the influence of the broader Amazon ecosystem. Heavy promotion of exclusive Amazon products, services and content all contribute to the company’s considerable ecommerce leadership position.
  • Despite Amazon’s own success with Prime Day, competing retailers and brands selling on Amazon are also finding ways to capitalize during this emerging shopping event and beyond.
  • Sellers are using effective Amazon marketing strategies to maximize Prime Day sales while positioning their products for the back-to-school and holiday seasons. Competing retailers are using their own marketing campaigns to capture incremental midsummer shopping demand.

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Table of Contents

  1. The Emergence of Amazon Prime Day
  2. The Value of Amazon Prime Membership
  3. Prime Day and the Amazon Ecosystem
  4. How Brands and Marketers Can Take Advantage of Prime Day
  1. Prime Day Now the de Facto Kickoff to Back-to-School Season
  2. Making the Most of Prime Day: Key Takeaways for Marketers
  3. eMarketer Interviews
  4. Read Next
  1. Sources
  2. Media Gallery

Charts in This Report

Interviewed for This Report

Kevin Saliba
Zulily
Senior Vice President, Marketing
Interviewed June 4, 2018
Cooper Smith
Gartner L2
Director, Amazon Research
Interviewed May 24, 2018
Ken Cassar
Slice Intelligence
Principal Analyst
Interviewed May 24, 2018
Doug Chavez
Geometry Global
Senior Vice President, Digital Commerce and Digital Ads
Interviewed May 29, 2018
Jeff Cohen
Seller Labs
Partner and CMO
Interviewed May 24, 2018
Bobby Figueroa
Gradient
CEO and Founder
Interviewed June 19, 2018
Mudit Jaju
Wavemaker
Global Head of Ecommerce
Interviewed May 31, 2018
Jonathan Laverentz
ChannelAdvisor
Product Marketing Manager
Interviewed June 8, 2018
Josh Lowitz
Consumer Intelligence Research Partners
Partner and Co-Founder
Interviewed May 18, 2018
Danielle Malloy
Chegg
Director, Marketing Solutions, Brand Partnerships
Interviewed May 31, 2018
Dani Nadel
Feedvisor
CMO and General Manager
Interviewed June 7, 2018
Victor Rosenman
Feedvisor
CEO
Interviewed June 7, 2018
Mitch Spolan
Chegg
Executive Vice President, Marketing Services
Interviewed May 31, 2018
Jeff Coleman
CPC Strategy
Vice President, Marketplaces
Interviewed May 24, 2018

authors

Andrew Lipsman

Contributors

Caroline Cakebread
Junior Analyst
Rebecca Chadwick
Senior Researcher
Cindy Liu
Senior Forecasting Analyst
Amy Rotondo
Research Manager, US

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