Amazon Prime day isn’t necessarily bad for its rivals, in fact, it may provide a boost to all retailers as the marketing Amazon does is effective in getting people to pull out their wallets and look for deals.
Even those who are not a fan of Amazon or its Prime Day shopping event try to leverage the event. Case in point: the American Booksellers Association (ABA). It launched a #BoxedOut marketing campaign last year calling attention to its 1,800 independent member bookstores, and it’s running the campaign again this year.
ABA pulled no punches with its criticism of Amazon and said in contrast to the behemoth marketplace’s record profits, “more than one independent bookstore a week has closed during the pandemic.”
Amazon is marketing its Prime Day event as two days of “epic deals,” but ABA’s #BoxedOut campaign is returning to talk about what’s at stake, the not-for-profit trade association said. Some of the slogans from the campaign: “Don’t box out bookstores,” and “Books curated by a real person, not a creepy algorithm.”
Another warning about Prime Day came from a small business called ScanMyPhotos – but this message was for sellers, not shoppers. Smaller retailers need to beat Amazon at its own game, according to the company’s press release, which suggested retailers leverage the occasion of Prime Day to offer deals of their own that Amazon would never offer.
“A new retail revolution is possible, and it starts with revealing Prime Day for what it is: a marketing ploy concocted by a giant corporation to strengthen its stranglehold on retail at large.”
As it turns out, fewer sellers may be participating in Prime Day this year, according to CNN. That’s because they’re expected to offer significant discounts at a time when their own costs are rising and some are facing inventory shortages.
CNN also pointed out a challenge for sellers who use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) in order to be eligible for Prime shipping: some say Amazon is too restrictive in restocking limits – meaning they can’t get enough inventory into Amazon’s warehouses to support Prime Day deals – see more in this April AuctionBytes blog post.
Let us know how you make out during this year’s Amazon Prime Day as a seller and as a buyer.
