To celebrate Prime Day 2021, Amazon staged an online concert headlined by Billie Eilish, Kid Cudi and H.E.R. Did this star-studded line-up have the desired effect on Amazon’s financials though?

Not content with dominating Black Friday and almost single-handedly creating the phenomenon of Cyber Monday, Amazon have since 2015 set about creating their very own global sales event in Prime Day. Originally designed to be a celebration of Amazon’s 20th anniversary, the commercial success of creating previously non-existent demand has become a stalwart of the e-commerce calendar.

Each year, Prime Day is billed as a retail event like no other and in keeping with the original intention of it being a celebration, Amazon host a party of sorts featuring some of the most recognisable faces in the music industry. This year, Billie Eilish, Kid Cudi and H.E.R. headlined a series of online sets, proving the success of using content as a gateway to results at the [virtual] till. Content dropped from the 17th June, building the anticipation of the savings which could be made across the 2 day event on the 21st-22nd June.

But in light of global events over the last 12-18 months, how much of a success was Prime Day(s) 2021? As ever, Amazon have kept the financial results a closely guarded secret, but that hasn’t deterred some analysts from making projections based on the little information emanating from the Seattle HQ.

Amazon revealed that Prime Day 2021 was the “biggest two-day period ever for Amazon’s third-party sellers”, “growing even more than Amazon’s retail business.” Whilst no financial details were shared, Amazon did note that it had sold more than 250 million items in 20 countries.

This has prompted a consensus amongst analysts that gross sales were up between 6-9% YoY. Whilst this was slower growth than in previous years (especially given 2020’s “COVID boost”), according to analysts at Bank of America, an estimated £9.55 billion was generated in gross sales.

On the product front, Amazon themselves were also the biggest beneficiaries with the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote ranking as the best-selling item. On a best-selling category basis, tools, beauty, nutrition, aby care, electronics, apparel and household products all featured.

All of the above are highly competitive marketplaces meaning that Amazon advertising activity would have been key to success for individual products. Ensuring the paid strategy is correct for these events is crucial to maximising sales success. If ACOS can be optimised to a level where the activity becomes self-funding, the only spend limit should be stock availability. Getting the strategy right for tentpole events such as this can be daunting, but historic events provide more than enough data to formulate an efficient plan for success. This is especially true for our e-commerce team, who through the use of AI tech are already devising the most efficient plans for Black Friday using historic data (which Amazon themselves do not archive beyond 3 months).

To make the most of Black Friday 2021, and even Prime Day 2022, get in touch today for a free consultation.