A Spotlight on Amazon: Incubeta Analyses Prime Day

Shoppers were abuzz last week as we saw the return of Amazon’s infamous Prime Day – a 48 hour extravaganza put on for the platforms paying (prime) customers.

Matilda Rose Moir

This was the online giant’s fifth Prime Day since it’s debut in 2015, and it was unlike any we’ve seen before. For starters, the date was pushed back almost three months, with the two day event taking place in October rather than it’s typical mid-July timing. This indirectly shifted the demand away from products relating to Summer (and Back-to-School), and onto those more associated with that of the holiday season.

Over the 48 hour event, millions of consumers flocked to the site, snapping up bargains in tech, furniture and home goods – all with slashed prices. The question that bodes asking, is how did the market shift throughout Prime Day to support this time-specific influx of demand – in short, how did advertisers change their pricing strategy throughout the days leading up to, during, and after the two day event?

Prime Day Market Analysis

Over the past year, Incubeta has developed a Market Monitor Tool which allowed us to analyse the Amazon marketplace pre- and post- Prime Day. This data provided us with valuable performance insights and enabled us to analyse the subsequent impact Prime Day had on the surrounding days. Based on our Prime Day Report, we were able to gain the following insights on Product Price, Share of Voice and Advertising.

Product Price 

Product price tells you the individual cost of each product, which over 96% of Amazon consumers say is the most important factor in their purchasing decisions. Product price allows advertisers to directly compare themselves to competitors, tailoring their strategy accordingly. 

Looking at the categories that had the largest reductions across the 48 hours of Prime day (Garden Furniture and Home Accessories), Incubeta was able to determine that on average the average product price was higher on the days leading up to Prime Day, in comparison to both the 48 hours of Prime Day and the days following. It is interesting to see that even after Prime Day retailers are continuing to keep their product pricing low to remain competitive. 

  1. Overall the average product price post-Prime Day was 0.5% higher than on Prime Day
  2. Overall the average product price post-Prime Day was 5% lower than pre-Prime Day

The exception to this trend is with Home Office and Baby – the baby category saw a 14% drop in price in the days following Prime Day.

Share of Voice  

When looking at Share of Voice, we are determining the amount of  space within the Amazon search results your brand owns compared to your competitors.

Looking at brand Share of Voice (SOV), the Market Monitor established that overall SOV was lowest in the days leading up to Prime Day, increasing substantially within the 48 hours of Prime Day, and dropping back down post Prime Day. Despite the average SOV dropping 5% post-Prime Day, it was still 11% higher than the days leading up to Prime Day – this indicates that it’s both cheaper and more competitive in the days after Prime Day, than in the days leading up to it.

  1. Overall the average SOV post-Prime Day was 5% lower than on Prime Day
  2. Overall the average SOV post-Prime Day was 11% higher than pre-Prime Day

The largest changes were seen in the Kitchen category where the SOV was 12% lower following Prime Day but still 25% higher prior to the 13th and 14th October

Advertising 

Incubeta was also able to determine which sellers were optimising paid advertising, finding that, on average, the use of paid ads was higher in the days leading up to Prime Day in comparison to both the Prime Day event and the days following. This suggests that advertisers place more emphasis on visibility prior to, and during Prime Day, reducing their ad spend (but not their product prices) post-Prime Day.

  1. Overall the number of sellers using Paid Advertising post-Prime Day was 7% lower than Prime Day 
  2. Overall the number of sellers using Paid Advertising post-Prime Day was 10% lower than pre-Prime Day

Amazon Sold Products

Amazon Sold Products are products sold specifically on Amazon, by Amazon – not by third party sellers. They are products within Amazon’s private label brands and are a benchmark for alternate sellers to compare themselves too. 

Looking specifically at Amazon Sold Products (ASP), they displayed similar trends to what we saw with all alternate products. The average product price was higher on the days leading up to Prime Day, in comparison to both the 48 hours of Prime Day and the days following. The average ASP SOV similarly was lowest in the days leading up to Prime Day, increasing substantially within the 48 hours of Prime Day, and dropping back down post Prime Day – the average SOV post-Prime Day was still higher than the days leading up to the event. 

ASP paid advertising differed to the aforementioned trends with huge emphasis placed on paid ads post-Prime Day, in comparison to the days before, and during the Prime Day event. This suggests that  in comparison to other sellers, Amazon became far more aggressive in their advertising – understandable considering Prime Day is focused on Prime products which are usually sold by Amazon.

  1. Overall the average ASP price post-Prime Day was 5% higher than on Prime day
  2. Overall the average ASP price post-Prime Day was 14% lower than pre-Prime Day
  3. Overall the average SOV for ASP post-Prime Day was 35% lower than on Prime Day
  4. Overall the average SOV for ASP post-Prime Day was 10% higher than pre-Prime Day
  5. Amazon’s Paid Advertising post-Prime Day was 1% (18% to 19%) higher than Prime Day
  6. Amazon’s Paid Advertising post-Prime Day was 4% (15% to 19%) higher than pre-Prime Day

Whilst the sun may have set on a week of incredible bargains, the holiday season has just begun and with it comes a flood of consumer spending. With 75% of users starting their shopping journey on Amazon, having an optimised Amazon campaign is key to success this Christmas – and now is the perfect time to refine your strategy ahead of the seasonal ecommerce boom.

Incubeta’s Market Monitor tool can help you achieve full visibility on your product performance, gaining insights into direct competitors, SOV, keyword gaps and position, and for the holiday season we are offering free personalised audits of your Amazon Activity. 

If you’re interested in directly comparing your performance with competitors and identifying your true Amazon potential, contact us today and request your free audit.

Read Next

Find out how we can help you

With offices around the world, we can build a team perfect for your needs.

Keep up to date with our monthly insight digest