There’s a lot at play behind-the-scenes when we think of how a delayed Amazon Prime Day will impact both sellers and consumers. It’s unfathomable that Amazon Prime Day will be halted completely considering sales jumped from 4 billion in 2018 to 6 billion in 2019, but we’re living through unprecedented times where nothing is impossible. Regardless, brands may choose to alter the extent of how they participate this year.
For one thing, brands are already noticing inventory piling up and will be itching to get rid of it well before August, when Amazon Prime Day is rumored to take place. This means consumers can potentially expect massive sales as early as this spring as brands need to move forward with clearing their warehouses of unsold products without Amazon. Delaying Amazon Prime Day could also negatively impact brands’ projected holiday sales, which is another reason we could see more sellers starting sales early.
However, the loose definition of “essential goods” may change as a clearer timeline emerges for consumers avoiding discretionary goods. Picture a family with young kids still quarantined in the heat of the summer – suddenly a plastic pool becomes essential to help the kids cool off while keeping AC costs down. There’s a lot of uncertainty but in the U.S. market, this is a very likely scenario for how we may view goods at some point in time and how purchasing behaviors will be impacted.
The bottom line is that savvy enterprise e-commerce brands will leverage solutions to properly share product data across all platforms – whether it’s Amazon for Amazon Prime Day or eBay or Walmart – to ultimately expand their reach while communicating products accurately across channels to cater to changing consumer needs.
