The Amazon News and Updates Archive

5 Ways to Use ChatGPT as an Amazon Seller

What is ChatGPT?

In recent months, ChatGPT has garnered significant attention due to its versatility and wide range of applications. This AI chatbot can be utilized for various purposes, including writing tasks such as essays, poems, blog articles, and even music composition. It also proves valuable for coding and debugging, text translation, data set discovery, complex question answering, math equation solving, and more. This makes it a great tool for Amazon sellers who want to improve their customer service and marketing efforts.

As with any new technology, ChatGPT has both pros and cons.

Pro: It is a powerful tool for automation and efficiency.

Con: At its core, it is still a machine.

ChatGPT lacks the capacity for nuanced understanding, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence.

Despite its limitations, ChatGPT can be an invaluable marketing tool for Amazon sellers when used appropriately and strategically. Below, we outline five effective ways to boost Amazon sales using ChatGPT:

Boosting Amazon Sales Using ChatGPT: 5 Effective Strategies

Generate Product Listing Copy

Compelling product descriptions play a vital role in enticing visitors to make a purchase. If writing them from scratch seems daunting, ChatGPT can assist in generating content for new listings, including titles, bullet points, and product descriptions that highlight features and benefits. For instance, a prompt like “Create an Amazon listing title for a set of bamboo bed sheets” can be a starting point for ChatGPT to generate relevant content.

Optimize Listings with Keyword Research

Creating quality content and optimizing product listings are crucial for a successful Amazon store. While there are online tools available for keyword research, they can be expensive and require a learning curve. ChatGPT can assist by generating a list of high-volume keywords for free. Simply provide a product-related prompt, like “create a list of keywords for an Amazon ad on bamboo bed sheets.” Although it may not be as comprehensive as dedicated tools, it offers a starting point that can be fine-tuned to specific requirements. This feature is useful for new listings or optimizing existing ones.

Leverage Social Media

Influencers

Leveraging social media influencers can significantly impact product sales in the eCommerce sector. However, identifying suitable influencers can be time-consuming. ChatGPT can simplify this process by searching for influencers within specific criteria. You can instruct ChatGPT to “Find influencers with 20K to 75K followers on Instagram in the home and lifestyle niche.” Once you have a list with contact information, ChatGPT can even help draft an outreach message to engage with these influencers.

Social Media Content

Social media remains a crucial platform for promoting Amazon products, whether or not influencers are involved. Engaging social media posts can effectively advertise new products or entice first-time buyers to try your brand. ChatGPT can assist in creating social media content by providing text, images, captions, and hashtags. For example, you can instruct ChatGPT to “Create social media content for a bamboo bed sheet promotion and offer a $5 coupon to first-time customers using the code BAMBOO5.” This helps drive customers to your listing and encourage conversions.

Create Advertising Content

Sponsored brand ads that appear in relevant Amazon search results are a popular method for sellers to reach more customers. Crafting compelling headlines is crucial for effective ads. When you find yourself lacking inspiration, ChatGPT can help by generating a list of headlines. Make sure to provide necessary guidance, such as character count limits, by instructing the chatbot to “Write a headline of 60 characters or less highlighting the benefits of my Bamboo bed sheets.” Even if the initial results aren’t perfect, a few adjustments can refine them to your liking.

Provide Timely Customers Service

Promptly addressing customer inquiries and concerns is crucial for maintaining customer satisfaction, especially when dealing with negative experiences. However, it can be challenging to respond to dissatisfied customers while maintaining a professional and empathetic tone. ChatGPT can assist in drafting personalized responses that address the customer’s concerns in a courteous and helpful manner.

To utilize ChatGPT for this purpose, you can provide a prompt like, “A customer is unhappy with the bed sheets they purchased from me and wants a refund or product replacement. How do I respond?” By leveraging ChatGPT’s capabilities, you can draft a well-crafted and tailored response that shows your commitment to resolving the issue and ensuring customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

Using ChatGPT for Amazon marketing provides valuable support and inspiration, giving you an edge with your Amazon seller account. While ChatGPT won’t handle every aspect of your marketing strategy, these tools can prove beneficial in generating ideas and content. If you find that the information provided by ChatGPT doesn’t fully meet your needs, try adjusting your prompts. By exploring its potential as an Amazon marketer, market researcher, copywriter, and more, you can obtain different outputs and uncover valuable insights.

It’s important for marketers to experiment with these tools, even if immediate value isn’t apparent. By familiarizing yourself with ChatGPT and similar AI technologies, you’ll gain valuable experience and stay ahead of the curve. So, take advantage of ChatGPT’s capabilities to enhance your Amazon marketing efforts and discover new possibilities for growth and success.

Stay tuned for an exciting announcement from Viral Launch! Coming soon, our revolutionary AI-powered Amazon seller tool will transform your selling experience and supercharge your success.

Amazon’s Strategy Shift: Regional Warehouses and Faster Delivery Impact on Search Results and Customer Experience

In a bid to prioritize delivery speed and enhance customer experience, Amazon has undergone significant changes to its logistics strategy. Recent reports indicate that the e-commerce giant is now focusing on regional warehouses to streamline its shipping process. We will explain this potential change, highlighting Amazon’s shift from a national to a regional model and its potential impact on search results. Let’s delve into the details.

Amazon Strategy Shifts

The Push for Faster Delivery

Amazon’s Vice President of Transportation, Udit Madan, has emphasized the company’s commitment to accelerating the delivery process. By expanding its warehouse footprint, Amazon has increased its ability to ship items within specific regions of the United States at a faster pace. The company’s efforts to revamp its delivery and inventory systems during the pandemic have played a crucial role in achieving this goal. According to Madan, Amazon’s data reveals a strong correlation between delivery speed and customer retention, underscoring the importance of efficient logistics operations.

Embracing Regional Warehouses

To optimize its delivery network, Amazon has divided the United States into eight regions, strategically locating regional warehouses across the country. The rationale behind this approach is to store commonly ordered items in each region, allowing for more localized and cost-effective shipping. By leveraging the increased warehouse space, Amazon aims to minimize the distance items travel between fulfillment centers and customers. The shift from a national to regional model reflects the company’s desire to reduce costs while capitalizing on the improved proximity to customers.

Impact on Search Results

One notable aspect of Amazon’s regional warehousing strategy is its potential influence on search results. The company may prioritize items that are geographically closer to a user when displaying search results. By doing so, Amazon aims to expedite shipping times and reduce associated costs. While this change could benefit customers by offering faster delivery, it raises questions about how it may affect sellers, particularly smaller ones. Larger sellers with products available across multiple regions may have an advantage over smaller sellers who cannot distribute their products as widely.

Increased Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction

Amazon’s efforts to establish regional warehouses and streamline its logistics network have resulted in notable improvements. The company now reports fulfilling 76% of orders from a warehouse within the same region as the customer, compared to 62% in the previous year. Additionally, the distance items travel between fulfillment centers and customers has decreased by approximately 15%. The expansion of same-day delivery centers, which store essential items for quick delivery, has also contributed to enhanced efficiency. Madan reveals that the use of same-day delivery has grown by 50% in the first quarter of 2023, with an increasing number of customers opting for this expedited option.

Conclusion

As Amazon continues to prioritize delivery speed and improve its logistics network, the shift towards regional warehouses has emerged as a significant development. By placing items closer to customers and reducing shipping distances, the company aims to offer faster and more cost-effective deliveries. While the impact on search results remains to be fully understood, the growing emphasis on regional warehousing is undoubtedly transforming Amazon’s fulfillment capabilities.

In the ever-changing landscape of Amazon and its dynamic search result placement algorithms, sellers need reliable tools. With Viral Launch’s comprehensive suite of Amazon seller tools, sellers can confidently navigate any changes thrown their way. From product research and keyword optimization to listing optimization and product launch services, Viral Launch equips sellers with powerful insights and data-driven strategies to compensate for any potential losses in search result placement. By leveraging Viral Launch’s tools, sellers can stay ahead of the competition, identify profitable opportunities, and optimize their listings to maximize visibility, ultimately driving sales and achieving long-term success.

Viral Launch is here to help you understand and adapt to the ever-evolving Amazon strategy!

Amazon Removes Editorial Recommendations: How Brands Can Adapt

In recent news, Amazon has made a significant change that has slid under the radar and gone unnoticed by many. Amazon has removed editorial recommendations from its search results. This change has forced some brands to pivot their marketing strategies and focus on other methods to get their products seen.

What are (or were) Amazon editorial recommendations?

The editorial recommendations on Amazon have been a valuable tool for both brands and consumers alike. Positioned prominently on the first page of search results, these recommendations showcase a curated selection of items that have garnered recognition from third-party editors, writers, influencers, and publishers who deem them as top contenders within their respective categories. However, with the recent change, these recommendations are no longer visible in search results.

Sellers greatly benefited from the inclusion of their listings in the editorial recommendations section as it held a prominent position on the first page of search results. These recommendations not only enhanced the shopping experience for customers but also simplified product research. It served as trusted endorsements from publishers and content creators within the specific product category. The presence of an editorial review would significantly boost clicks and sales for sellers, making it a valuable asset for driving success in their listings.

How Can Brands Adapt ?

Amazon PPC

So what does this mean for brands and their marketing strategies? On one hand, this change opens up another pay-per-click (PPC) slot on Amazon, which can drive down the cost per click as bids are spread out over more slots. This can be seen as a positive development for brands, especially ones that don’t have high ratings or many reviews.

For Amazon sellers looking to navigate the changing landscape of Amazon advertising, Viral Launch’s Kinetic Amazon PPC tool can provide a valuable solution. This tool offers a range of features to help sellers manage their Amazon PPC campaigns, including the ability to create rules, automate campaigns, and monitor results. Additionally, the tool provides data that allows for informed decision-making and can help sellers optimize their campaigns for maximum results. With Viral Launch’s Amazon PPC Kinetic tool, Amazon sellers can stay ahead of the curve and achieve their advertising goals on the platform.

Drive Organic Traffic

On the other hand, this change also means that brands will need to pivot their editorial marketing strategies to focus on organic traffic. This could include investing more in content marketing and influencer partnerships to generate buzz. By focusing on building relationships with influencers and editors in their niche, brands can continue to drive organic traffic by earning more editorial placements.

Final Thoughts

To sum up, Amazon’s decision to remove editorial recommendations from search results is a game-changer for brands and requires them to reevaluate their marketing strategies. While the removal of these recommendations opens up another PPC slot, brands need to pivot towards generating organic traffic from editorials. This may involve investing in content marketing, building relationships with influencers and editors, and being creative when it comes to attracting and retaining customers. With the right approach, brands can continue to thrive on Amazon and achieve their sales goals.

How to Sustain Your Ecommerce Business in a Recession

Official thinking is that the economy will likely experience a recession in mid-2023. So, how can you protect your eCommerce business with a recession looming?

The National Bureau of Economic Research defines a recession as “a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and lasts more than a few months.” Another common definition is “two consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic product (GDP).”

This article will show you how to review eCommerce performance and implement recession-proof strategies to help you survive and thrive during challenging times.

The impact of recession on eCommerce businesses

The past year saw a steep rise in inflation, with higher prices on everything from fuel to food. This has already led to a drop in consumer spending, as shoppers find they have less disposable income.

It also means higher costs for warehouse operations and shipping, while your suppliers and manufacturers will have increased their prices. B2B customers may be slower to make payments, and you’ve now got less cash in the coffers to see you through the looming recession.

Declines in consumer demand, employment, and economic output characterize a recession. During this time, spending will slow even further as consumers try to save money and focus on buying essential products rather than luxuries, potentially leaving you with a glut of unsold inventory.

When your business is tightening its belt, the marketing budget is often an early casualty. But without spending on ads, you won’t reach as many people. That translates into less traffic to your website and a smaller group of potential customers to convert—and a further drop in sales.

Factors affecting eCommerce performance during a recession

Consumer behavior changes

In a recession, shoppers typically look for cheaper options and bargains, and their perceptions of value-for-money will change. They may still browse your website but fail to make a purchase—or abandon their cart if the shipping fees or taxes are higher than expected.

Consumers will focus on brands they know and trust rather than buying from an unknown business. 82% of shoppers who said they’re spending less still buy from their favorite brands. They want to support companies that have always provided a good experience.

It’s up to you to adjust to customers’ changing needs. When people align their spending with their values and priorities, it’s more important than ever to know your audience well and keep track of behavioral changes.

Economic uncertainty

eCommerce enjoyed a huge boom during the pandemic, but the market is no longer growing exponentially. It’s true that people have gotten used to doing most of their spending online, and that’s not likely to change. But growth has slowed—and in a recession, they’ll spend even less.

In a time of economic uncertainty, making informed decisions is harder. Should you keep spending on inventory to avoid stockouts or carry less stock to avoid being left with unsold goods? Should you cut the marketing budget or continue advertising to attract more customers?

Pricing is also a minefield during a recession. Customers want lower prices, but you’d prefer to raise them to maintain revenue. You don’t want to damage your reputation by going too far in either direction.

Competitor landscape changes

eCommerce is already highly competitive and a recession can make it even more so. Countless companies operate in the same market, trying hard to maintain sales. Plus, during the pandemic growth we mentioned earlier, eCommerce witnessed several new players and investments, making the market more crowded.

It’s always important to conduct an analysis to gain a competitive advantage, but should you copy their strategies? For instance, they might drop their prices to attract customers. But if you do likewise, you risk a price war—and when the recession ends, you could upset customers with a sudden return to pre-recession prices.

Government policies and regulations

The Federal Reserve has a dual mandate from Congress to maintain price stability in the US economy. It started hiking interest rates in March 2022 in an attempt to combat rising inflation. But some suggest that continued increases will actually tip the economy into recession.

In an official recession, the Fed is likely to cut interest rates to encourage borrowing and allow consumers to make more purchases on credit. This has a knock-on effect throughout the economy. The Fed may also try quantitative easing (QE), which is the direct purchase of assets to inject more money into the economy.

The government may introduce fiscal policies to help fight a recession, such as lowering taxes and increasing federal spending. Deregulation is sometimes used to stimulate economic activity by reducing restrictions on new businesses entering the market and increasing competition.

How to thrive in the midst of a recession

Review business successes and failures

When times are tight, you need to make sure that you’re maximizing every cent spent on your business. That means reviewing your performance and identifying ways to improve. Your business systems will give you the data you need, from Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.

What is ERP? Think of it as an all-encompassing platform that offers you real-time insights into your business. It connects various data points across the company, from accounting to inventory management. When reviewing your business, it’s a reliable way to identify areas for improvement, helping you make cost-effective decisions to implement during a recession and in the future.

Points to consider when analyzing your business’ successes include:

What are your current successes?
Which products always sell well?
Which sales and marketing channels work best?
Consider your repeat customers—what are you doing right?

Once you have the answers, you can invest in areas that you know will generate revenue.

You also need to look at your failures and figure out how to fix them. Did you experience stockouts? Did customers complain about late delivery? A customer-first approach is vital for eCommerce during a recession, so ask for feedback and use it wisely. You can also benchmark your performance against competitors.

Diversify revenue streams

It’s best not to keep all your eggs in one basket when the economic outlook is uncertain. Diversifying your revenue streams is an excellent way of protecting your eCommerce business—but that doesn’t have to mean expanding your product offering (as we’ll explore in the next section).

Instead, you could add extra sales channels, attracting a wider audience for the same products. Social media is a valuable (and largely free) method of promotion. You can even branch into social commerce and enable customers to buy directly from Facebook or Instagram.

You might start selling subscription boxes (which ensure regular payments and predictable cash flow), work with influencers or affiliates, or form partnerships with other businesses to encourage cross-promotion. A customer loyalty program can also generate more revenue.

Focus on core products/services

Instead of launching new product lines, concentrate on what you already do well. Identify the products or services that bring consistent revenue and good customer reviews, and double down on them. These are your recession-proof products.

Maintaining the quality of your core offering is essential, so don’t cut corners on production or packaging for these products. You could also make improvements by adding an extra feature or two while saving money by dropping products or services that don’t perform as well.

Focus on the value of the core offering. Does the product beat the competition on quality or durability? Does it have more functionality? You need to communicate this to your customers. Instead of cutting prices, try offering perks like extended return windows, guarantees, or loyalty points.

Cut costs without compromising quality or service

When customers have less to spend, they want to make their dollars go further, which means choosing quality products and services that represent value for money. But how do you square that with your need to keep costs down?

One method is to boost productivity so that you can achieve more with fewer resources. Optimize your warehouse layout and ensure inventory is stored correctly to avoid breakages or spoilage.

Use technology to streamline processes, reduce expenses, and make smart decisions based on real-time data—this is one of the key benefits of cloud ERP system and other cloud-based tools.

If you order inventory more often and in smaller batches, you’re protected if demand changes or one shipment is delayed. This may also mean you can reduce overheads with a smaller warehouse, especially if you implement the JIT inventory method or use dropshipping for some items.

Finally, review your spending with suppliers and shipping carriers to see if you can renegotiate deals. You could also reduce shipping costs by using more economical packaging.

Strengthen online presence

If you haven’t already, establish a presence on all the major social media sites. You don’t have to use paid ads unless you want to, but you can build brand awareness. That way, you’ll be top-of-mind when the recession’s over and customers start spending again.

Even if most people are just browsing right now, it’s vital to provide a good experience on your eCommerce website. Carry out an audit to ensure your site is performing well in terms of page load speed and easy navigation, and it’s optimized for SEO. After all, a sleek website is no use if people can’t find it.

A strong website also means eliminating friction from the checkout process, with flexible payment and shipping options and pre-filled forms. Provide detailed product descriptions, transparent returns policies, and social proof that shows customers they can trust you.

Key takeaways

Recessions are generally bad news for businesses, but there are plenty of ways to lessen the effects.

Make sure you’re prepared by maximizing efficiency and reducing costs wherever possible—without compromising quality. Stay agile by keeping track of changing customer needs and preferences. Double down on your core offering, focus on demonstrating value and trust, and maintain brand awareness so that customers know where to come when normality resumes.

It won’t be easy, but use this guide to manage your eCommerce business in a recession. With the right mindset and approach, you can weather the storm and emerge stronger than ever!

Pinterest Announces Amazon Ads Partnership

Recently, Pinterest announced a third-party advertising partnership with Amazon Ads.

Pinterest is a social media website and app that works as a visual discovery engine. It provides inspiration on ideas like recipes, home decorations, style tips, and more. With 463 million monthly users, Pinterest ranks in the top-15 social networks worldwide. This presents a tremendous opportunity for online businesses to get their products in front of an active and engaged audience.

The partnership will be implemented over the next few quarters and is expected to begin rolling out later in 2023.

“This milestone partnership will add to the great brands already on the platform and provide more comprehensiveness, shoppability, and a best-in-class buying experience for users, along with greater performance for brands and advertisers. This aligns with our goal of making every Pin shoppable so that we can enable as many users as possible to bring their dreams to life.”
Bill Ready, CEO of Pinterest

Amazon becomes the platform’s first third-party advertising partner, a noteworthy accomplishment that speaks to the strength of Amazon’s reach and the Amazon Ads platform. The announcement also continues the evolving growth of Amazon as an advertising giant.

“Amazon Ads is delighted to partner with Pinterest and make it even easier for customers to discover and buy relevant products through shoppable content, while also providing differentiated value for brands.”
Paul Kotas, Senior Vice President of Amazon

What Does It Mean for Amazon Sellers?

First, the partnership should be phenomenal news for those who sell on Amazon. The potential ability to reach 463 million monthly users is no small feat, even compared to Amazon’s gargantuan reach. If Pinterest were a country and the users were citizens, it would rank ahead of the United States as the third-largest country in the world.

Even better, the Pinterest audience offers a unique advantage regarding segmentation and buyer intent thanks to its primary uses. Whether a user seeks inspiration for home decorations, seasonal fashion, dinner recipes, or virtually anything you might use Pinterest for, they will likely need products associated with their search. Compared to social media networks like Facebook and Twitter where most users aren’t necessarily searching for a product, Pinterest users are almost exclusively looking for products.

For example, the average Facebook or Twitter user might get on the app for news, to check in with friends, or staying up-to-date on pop culture events. However, the typical Pinterest user searches for new recipes, clothes, and crafts. Even after segmenting users, displaying your product in front of an interested customer can be a guessing game on Facebook or Twitter. But on Pinterest, you may soon be able to put your product front and center for a potential customer looking for your goods based on their Pins.

The partnership stays in line with recent trends, as an increased emphasis on advertising on video-based social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels have created plenty of buzz and opportunity in the market. Pinterest features both image and video posts and has prioritized video content and user-generated content since TikTok’s emergence.

Optimize Your PPC Campaigns With Automation

All things considered, implementing Amazon Ads on Pinterest will likely heat up the competitive marketplace. It remains to be seen how the integration will go. However, it’s difficult to imagine a situation where this partnership doesn’t lead to a more competitive advertising market. Sellers who nail their advertising strategy and execution, though, can experience more reward.

With that in mind, there’s no better time to refine your Amazon PPC game plan! And there’s no better way to create, customize, and manage your Amazon advertising methods than Kinetic PPC.

Optimize your Amazon PPC advertising for Pinterest with Kinetic.

Kinetic PPC is Viral Launch’s state-of-the-art tool to automate your advertising on Amazon. The innovative Amazon PPC software improves your campaigns with in-depth reporting of campaigns, keywords, and search terms. Kinetic utilizes artificial intelligence to make data-informed suggestions. It allows you to create customized rules for maximum performance at the keyword and ASIN levels.

For example, you can create custom rules to increase spending on high-converting keywords or shut off spending on duds. Utilize the pre-made templates within the tool to get started or create your own to flex your advertising muscle and accomplish your advertising goals.

Still, if handing over your Amazon advertising to a tool feels daunting, no worries. Kinetic contains built-in safety checks you can set to manual mode, allowing you to see the recommended actions before putting them into motion.

As Amazon Ads move to Pinterest and possibly other platforms, sellers who develop high-performing strategies and tactics will be richly rewarded. Get ahead of the game with a 14-day free trial of Kinetic PPC and see what it can do for your online business!

How Much Does it Cost to Sell on Amazon in 2023?

It’s no secret that the cost of living has gone up in recent months. This also applies to the costs of running a business, like Amazon selling.

If you’re an Amazon seller already, you might have noticed that as of January 17, 2023, the Amazon fee increase has impacted your bottom line.

Even Amazon, the biggest retailer in the world, had to adjust to the rising costs. As a result, they shifted some of the burdens onto Amazon Sellers.

This post will cover all of the different Amazon fees, what they are, how fees have changed, and how much it costs to sell on Amazon in 2023.

What Fees Do Amazon Sellers Have To Pay?

Depending upon which type of Amazon business model you operate, there are a number of fees that you will have to pay in order to sell your products on the Amazon platform.

Here is a breakdown of all of the fees that Amazon charges:

Selling Fees

Amazon selling fees are based on the product’s price and are charged per item sold. The fee is a percentage of the sale price plus a minimum fee.

Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) Fees

There are a number of different fees within the FBA fees, including storage fees, pick and pack fees, and shipping fees. The amount will vary depending on the size and weight of the product.

Referral Fees

The referral fee is a percentage of the item’s sale price and varies based on the category in which the item is sold.

Advertising Fees

To run Pay Per Click (PPC) ads on the Amazon selling platform, sellers must pay Amazon to display these. These fees are based on the cost-per-click model, where the seller pays every time someone clicks on their ad.

Subscription/ Amazon Seller fees

There are two different seller account options – Individual or Professional. An individual account is free, and a Professional account is $39.99 per month.

Returns Processing Fee

If a seller uses Amazon’s Fulfilment By Amazon program, they may be subject to processing fees based on the type and size of their item(s) should there be any returns.

Long-term Storage Fees

Sellers who use FBA and keep their inventory in Amazon’s fulfillment centers for more than one year will be charged long-term storage fees.

How Have Amazon FBA Fees Changed In 2023?

Previously, Amazon has attempted to keep fee changes low by reducing or eliminating certain fees like customer returns.

Starting in 2022 some of those fees were put back onto sellers, particularly FBA fulfillment fees, which will continue into 2023.

Fuel prices and inflation are the main reason for the Amazon fee increase.

Here are some of the changes sellers can expect to see:

Fulfillment Fees

The outbound FBA fees have increased on average by $0.22.

However, FBA still remains super competitive as the $0.22 rise is much cheaper than all other logistics providers.

The reason for the price increase is to cover the costs of increased shipping fees, fuel prices, and inflation.

Storage Fees

Amazon FBA storage fees change depending on the time of year.

Here are the changes in storage fees:

Off Peak (January – September): increase of $0.04 per cubic foot
Peak (October – December): increase of $0.20 per cubic foot

As of April 1, 2023, a storage utilization surcharge will be brought in for sellers who have high levels of inventory taking up space.

The surcharge will be relative to the cube of recent weekly sales and will affect around 8% of sellers who have the highest volume of storage relative to sales volume.

There will also be a surcharge for sellers with aged inventory stored for 271-365 days.

FBA Removal and Disposal Fee Changes

FBA removal and disposal fees are determined based on the size tier, per unit fee, and the item’s shipping weight.

These fees will increase between $0.45 to $1.06 for standard-size products and between $1.62 to $4.38, depending on the shipping weight of your product.

Amazon Selling Fee Increase Summary

Here is a summary of what’s changing for FBA sellers:

Non-peak storage fees are increasing by $0.04 per cubic foot for standard-size items and $0.03 per cubic foot for oversized items.
Effective April 15, 2023, the aged inventory surcharge will apply to items sitting in Amazon warehouses for 180 days or more, excluding product categories such as watches, apparel, shoes, and jewelry.
An average of $0.20 reduction in returns processing fees for Apparel and Shoes category products.
FBA Returns and Disposal fees will almost double.

How Can Sellers Reduce The Cost Of Amazon Selling ?

The rise in fees can impact a seller’s bottom line, but there are some ways to maintain healthy profit margins.

Here are some suggestions to help keep costs down and maintain healthy profit margins:

Optimize Your PPC Ads

Sellers can spend a lot of money on unnecessary clicks to their PPC ads that don’t convert.

Pay close attention to your campaigns and make sure that you’re not paying for clicks that don’t have a high chance of converting.

The best way to run Amazon PPC ads is with a killer PPC Management tool like the Viral Launch Kinetic PPC Tool.

How does the Kinetic tool help sellers get more out of their PPC ads?

Control results – Can create more customizable rules to achieve the highest return on ad spend.
Maximize Profits – Gain access to more data to see what is impacting ad campaigns.
Clear Strategies – Integrating the Viral Launch research tools directly into the Kinetic PPC tool helps conversions of relevant keywords, improves organic rankings, and drives organic sales.
Create Automation – Set up automated rules to control your results around the clock. Ensures sellers don’t lose ranking or overspend on ads.

Optimize Product Listings

Optimizing your product listing so that it is ranking for the most relevant, and highest converting keywords is the best way to increase organic ranking and traffic to the listing.

The most important parts of a product listing to Optimize to increase rankings are:

Product Title
Product bullet points
Product Description

Use the Viral Launch Keyword Research tool to audit your listing, and find high-converting keywords, longtail keywords, and other search terms to add to your product listing.

Stay On Top Of Your Inventory

Monitor inventory levels and make sure they don’t become too large by taking advantage of seasonal discounts or promotions.

This is especially important if you store products in Amazon FBA warehouses as this will help avoid long-term storage fees or surcharges.

Review Product Prices

Make sure your prices remain competitive so you don’t lose customers to competitors. You can also focus on selling high-margin products to increase profits despite the increased fee structure.

What Amazon Sellers Should Not Spend Money On

Expensive Tools

There are many different tasks involved when it comes to running a successful Amazon store, so naturally, there are many different tools to solve problems and provide services for Sellers.

Cutting unnecessary monthly subscriptions to tools that are not always required is will help free up cash flow.

Viral Launch, however, offers a “one-stop-shop” array of tools that sellers will require to run their businesses successfully, all under one subscription fee.

Expensive Training/Courses

There are some fantastic Amazon FBA Courses available to sellers, but most of them come with a premium price tag. In some cases, courses can cost upwards of $5k!

Viral Launch has a FREE course hosted on the teachable platform where sellers can learn the basics of Amazon, confidently build an online business, and get one step closer to financial freedom:

As well as the free course, the Viral Launch YouTube channel has a lot of great information videos

Legal Fees

Too many sellers are too hasty to incorporate their business in the early phases of getting started. Setting up an LLC, or establishing a legal structure for your business is something that can be expensive and something that can be done further down the line when the business is more established.

Realistically, How Much Does It Cost To Start An Amazon Business?

There are many factors to consider when putting a price tag on a business startup. But here are what Sellers could expect to spend on starting their own Amazon store:

Ordering Product Samples – $100
First Inventory Order – Average price for 500units + shipping = $2000
UPC Code – $30
Amazon Professional Seller Account – $39.99p/m

Grand Total = $2,170

You will also need to invest in Amazon PPC in order to run a successful launch campaign. You should expect to spend around $10 per day for the first month. Be sure to use the best PPC Tools in order to maximize the effectiveness of your ads.

Unless you are a skilled creative, you may also need to hire a designer for your product’s logo and product packaging, and a photographer for your product listing photographs.

Cashflow

Something that I feel is not talked about enough with newbie sellers is the matter of Cashflow.

You will need access to enough working capital to be able to afford a second inventory order before you receive payment from the first. (Ideally, you should be placing another order with your supplier as soon as your first inventory reaches the FBA centers)

If you have to wait until you are sold out of your product before you can place a second order, your product will be out of stock for far too long and any organic ranking that you achieved with your launch will be lost by the time your inventory is replenished.

So as a rule of thumb – I figure out my first month’s startup costs, and double it!

Is Starting An Amazon FBA Business Still Worth It?

The answer is YES!

Starting an Amazon FBA business still remains a very viable way to start an online business. The potential for success is huge. With the right planning and strategy, Amazon selling can be a great choice if you’re looking to start your own business and work toward financial freedom.

Be sure to plan ahead and budget carefully so that you remain in control of your finances. Keeping track of costs and staying on top of fees will help you avoid unexpected surprises, while also managing cash flow correctly will ensure that your business continues to grow over time.

Remember – it’s important not to get carried away with unnecessary expenses when starting out. These can quickly add up over time. Careful spending, coupled with the right tools and resources, is essential to getting your business off the ground.

Viral Launch makes this process even easier by giving you all the necessary tools and resources to get started on Amazon. With Viral Launch, you can easily manage your daily activities, monitor changes in the marketplace, track product performance, optimize PPC campaigns, and launch new products – all under one subscription fee!

5 Steps – How To Prepare For Amazon Prime Day 2023

Amazon Prime Day 2023 runs from July 12 to 13 for 48 hours.

Prime Day is a great opportunity for Amazon sellers to take advantage of the influx of Prime members on the Amazon platform.

Sellers can gain a huge boost in sales and revenue because of the big increase in consumers searching for lightning deals and discounted items.

The lead time for getting more stock manufactured, shipped, and stocked in the FBA warehouses can sometimes take up to 3 months, so now is the time to start getting ready.

This post will cover exactly how to prepare for Prime Day 2023.

Step 1 – Offer Different Prime Day Discounts

Some sellers decide to ignore Prime Day and rely solely on the increase in customers on the platform to experience a boost in sales.

I wouldn’t recommend doing this!

The idea of Prime Day is that Amazon Prime Members gain access to the sales event, and can expect to find discounted items.

Consumers are actively searching for deals, and when you don’t appear to be offering any, you’re likely to be bypassed and your competitors will get the sale.

Offering a different range of discounts is a great way to entice customers to purchase your products.

Here are 4 different ways to do this:

Prime Day Deals

If you are planning on offering Prime Day Deals, then you should submit your offers to Amazon before April 28, 2023.

Prime Day Deals are an investment and will not suit every budget.

They come with a rather large fee, but it’s usually worthwhile as your product will gain much more visibility during the sales event, and sellers will see a healthy ROI.

If you’re a new seller and you don’t have access to a large marketing budget, then Prime Day Deals won’t be worth your while, and you should look to offering Prime Exclusive Discounts instead…

Prime Exclusive Discounts

Prime Exclusive Discounts are discounts that you can offer to Amazon Prime members only.

This is a great way to incentivize customers with an existing Amazon Prime subscription and make them feel like they are getting value from their membership.

These discounts don’t come with the same hefty fee as Prime Day Deals, but they might not be as effective depending on your product category and target audience.

If you decide to go down this route then you need to submit your offers to Amazon before May 5th, 2023.

Run Promotions

You can also run promotional campaigns during Amazon Prime Day 2023.

These promotions could be in the form of a free gift or bonus for customers who purchase your product, or you could offer free shipping to incentivize customers to purchase from you.

These types of promotions are great because they don’t require as much lead time, and they give customers an added incentive to choose your product over others.

Step 2 – Optimize Your Product Listing

A highly optimized Amazon product listing is your best chance of increasing your conversion rate over the Prime Day period.

It’s important to do this now instead of a few days before Prime Day because you want to gain as much traction with your ranking and Best Seller Rating.

Here are the best 3 ways to optimize your product listing in preparation:

Check your Product listing Keywords
Improve product images
Increase your reviews

Optimizing Product Listing Keywords

Optimizing your product listing so that it is ranking for the most relevant, and highest converting keywords for your product search terms is vital to increasing your conversion rate, and organic ranking on Amazon.

The best way to check that your listing is properly optimized for the most relevant keywords is to audit the following sections of your listings:

Product Title
Product bullet points
Product Description

How To Audit Your Listings For Keywords

The best and most thorough way to audit your product listing for Keywords is to re-perform keyword research for your product’s root keyword.

Root keyword – is the shortest, most obvious search term for your product.

Then double-check that your listing includes all of the other longtail search terms for your product and make sure that they are properly placed within your listing.

This product launch checklist dives deep into how to properly optimize your product listing to increase rankings and conversion rates.

Optimize Product Images

There are two points of focus with your product images:

The main image
secondary images

The main image helps to win the click, and the secondary images convert customers into buyers.

So make sure your images are effective in their roles.

Your main product image should have:

Pure white background
No badges or text
Product without packaging
Images should be square
All extra white space cropped out
As high-quality as possible
Use ALL the space

Your secondary images should:

Have any color background (lifestyle images showing the product in use at home, or wherever the product belongs)
Images should be square
Be as high quality as possible
Use text overlays to communicate the benefits
Use all 9 product image slots
Show benefits
Reiterate bullet points
Showcase the product dimensions

Increase Your Product Reviews

The more reviews you have, the more likely customers will be to trust your product and make a purchase.

Gaining positive reviews is also a ranking factor for the A9 Algorithm that Amazon uses to select which products earn the highest rankings in the search terms.

There are several ways to do this:

Create product inserts that your suppliers add to your product packaging.
Send follow-up emails to offer support and ask for any feedback.
Offering exclusive promotions/discounts in exchange for reviews.
Reaching out directly via social media platforms for reviews.

[Disclaimer]

It would be a breach of Amazon’s terms if you directly ask customers for a positive review, you are allowed to follow up to make sure that customers are happy with their purchase and to offer support should they need it.

By offering this level of service, customers will feel much more obligated to want to leave positive feedback in the form of a review, but a review cannot be incentivized or specifically asked for.

Step 3 – Increase Inventory

Running out of inventory can cause your organic ranking to plummet whilst you’re waiting for your stock to replenish.

Your search ranking should be maintained at all costs, so increasing the level of inventory in storage over the Amazon Prime Day 2023 sales event to account for the boost in sales is vital.

How Do You Know How Much More Stock To Buy?

Amazon Sellers (myself included) have experienced Prime Day sales reaching up to 3 times higher than normal sales, in some cases even more.

So as a rule of thumb, figure out your average daily sales per product, times it by three, and then double it (because Prime Day is a 2-day event).

How To Increase Storage Capacity Limits

For new sellers, or for sellers with a poor Inventory Performance Index (IPI) increasing your FBA storage capacity isn’t possible.

If you hold inventory for too long or have a low ‘sell-through rate’, then your IPI score may be too low for Amazon to want to increase the capacity for you to increase your levels of inventory.

The best way to increase your IPI score is to increase your sell-through rate.

Increasing your sell-through rate will naturally decrease your excess inventory score, by shifting the products that were sat for too long in storage.

Amazon wants your products to spend as little time in their fulfillment center as possible, so increasing your sell-through rate, and decreasing your excess inventory score can help you to earn a higher IPI, resulting in more storage availability.

Step 4 – Offer FBM If You’ve Reached Your FBA Storage Capacity

If you’ve maxed out your FBA storage capacity, and don’t have enough stock to meet the demand of Prime Day sales, then it makes sense to offer FBM sales.

FBM stands for ‘Fulfilled By Merchant’ and means you store the products in your home or a local warehouse, and take care of shipping them with your own courier services or Amazon Shipping Services.

Having a backup plan is key when it comes to Prime Day success, especially if you are unable to increase your storage capacity with FBA.

Your FBM inventory will automatically win the buy box and you can fulfill the products yourself.

Step 5 – Run PPC Ads

Running PPC (Pay Per Click) ads is a great way to drive traffic to your products and give them a boost in rankings.

You can create targeted campaigns specifically for Prime Day, with a higher budget than normal.

Your advertising budget should be reflective of the sales you anticipate making during the event, so calculate the extra cost versus potential profit, and then decide how much you want to spend on it.

It’s also a great idea to run PPC ads in the months leading up to Prime Day to improve your organic rankings.

Running your PPC ads on Amazon is much more effective when you use a PPC management tool like the Viral Launch Kinetic PPC Tool.

Kinetic PPC provides sellers with more data to easily analyze campaigns and search term information, meaning you can easily maximize profits on ad campaigns.

There is much more automation when you use a PPC tool like Kinetic PPC, rather than running ads on the Seller Central platform.

Once you have sales and conversions coming in from your PPC campaigns, make sure to keep an eye on them and optimize your campaigns.

The way to do this is to check the performance regularly and adjust bids or add/remove keywords as needed depending on which ones are performing the best.

Amazon Prime day 2023 FAQ

When is Amazon Prime Day 2023?

Amazon Prime Day runs from July 12 to 13

What is Amazon Prime Day?

Amazon Prime Day is a global shopping event exclusive to Amazon Prime members, offering amazing deals and discounts on a variety of products.

How can Sellers make the most of Prime Day?

Prepare your inventory and create campaigns to target Amazon shoppers during the event. Make sure you are monitoring your stock levels at all times, and increase your storage capacity if necessary. You should also be running PPC ads to boost the visibility of your products and create a backup plan with FBM sales in case your FBA inventory maxes out. Leverage social media platforms off of the Amazon platform too, to help drive traffic to your listings.

What types of deals can you find on Prime Day?

Prime Day offers a wide range of deals including discounts on electronics, home appliances and furniture, fashion, toys, and more.

What are the most profitable product categories on Amazon Prime Day?

Toys, electronics, home appliances, and fashion are some of the most profitable product categories on Prime Day. Other popular categories include beauty products and pet supplies.
The top 2 most profitable categories on Amazon Prime Day are:
#1: Toys and kids’ and babies’ items (32%)
#2: Electronics, computers, and office tools (21%)

Amazon Limited Quantity Update: New Capacity Management System

Amazon announced a massive update to its FBA capacity management system. With inventory limits, fees, and policies coming under the microscope in recent years, the updates seek to improve the existing Amazon Limited Quantity policy and capacity management system.

The updated policies and management system aim to provide greater capacity limits, enhance predictability, and give more control to FBA sellers. Amazon states the changes were made in response to customer feedback regarding FBA inventory capacity limits.

The new capacity management system goes into effect on March 1, 2023, so sellers have some time to get accustomed to the overhauls of the program.

Sellers told us they need more capacity, more predictability, and more control over their inventory. Our teams have been hard at work to create a streamlined system that offers new capacity management tools and resources to better empower sellers and help them grow.
Dharmesh Mehta, Vice President of Selling Partner Services at Amazon

In the announcement, Amazon highlights four new capacity management features that will change how you run your online business.

New to FBA inventory management? Speed up the learning curve with our post on what you need to know (and do) to elevate your inventory management knowledge.

#1: A single, month-long FBA capacity limit

Say goodbye to weekly restock limits! Instead, a monthly capacity limit will take its place.

Additionally, gone are the days of separate storage limits and restock limits. Amazon cites seller feedback and confusion between the two sets of limits and how they’re measured as causes for the change.

The new FBA capacity limits seek to resolve these issues and make it easier for sellers to plan inventory ahead of time. On the third full week of each month, sellers can find their capacity limits for the upcoming month in Capacity Monitor in Seller Central or via email notification.

Notably, Amazon states that most sellers will have access to greater capacity volumes than before under the new system.

#2: Estimated capacity limits to help sellers plan three months in advance

If #1 spiked your stress levels due to concerns over long-term planning, this new addition might cool you down. With a capacity limit set for the current month ahead, Amazon will display estimated inventory limits for the following two months.

Amazon states the estimates will be based on how efficiently sellers utilize their capacity, as measured by the Inventory Performance Index (IPI) score. Similar to how a credit score seeks to measure a person’s likelihood of making an on-time payment, your IPI score measures your ability to manage inventory efficiently.

For inventory management tips & recommendations to improve your IPI, brush up on Amazon’s top tips and recommendations for managing inventory.

#3: The opportunity to request a higher quantity limit

Have a problem with your updated Amazon limited quantity? The new Capacity Manager allows sellers to request additional capacity and go beyond their allocated limits.

Of course, not every request for increased limits will be approved. Amazon states that requests will be granted objectively, with a reservation fee applied to sellers once approved.

"When additional capacity is granted, sellers’ reservation fees are offset by earning performance credits from the sales they generate using the extra capacity. Performance credits are designed to offset up to 100% of the reservation fee, so sellers don’t pay for the additional capacity as long as their products sell through."

Amazon clarified the goal is to limit unproductive storage, not to impede or impair any seller. This wrinkle in the system ups the ante on strategizing your inventory management.

#4: FBA capacity limits in volume to better reflect capacity usage

Lastly, the new inventory management system will measure sellers’ inventory in cubic feet instead of numbers of units. While the number of units will also be displayed in inventory limits, Amazon claims the cubic feet usage better represents logistical usage.

Many sellers prefer to manage inventory on units, but the cubic feet measurement provides sellers with a tad more transparency regarding storage.

Overage fees stand as one unchanged element of inventory management. The fees charged for exceeding the allotted on-hand inventory limits remain intact.

Conclusion

Sellers should get familiar with the changes as soon as possible. The updated Amazon limited quantity and inventory management system empower sellers with more control and strategy behind their inventory. Moreover, the update introduces new risks and opportunities for those who masterfully manage their warehouse supply.

Optimizing inventory management has long been critical to running an FBA business. Finding the balance of always having inventory on hand without overstocking to avoid unnecessary fees has been a challenge that significantly affects every Amazon FBA seller’s bottom line.

Amazon acknowledging imperfections in the current process certainly takes a step in the right direction. Over the past few years, disruptions in the supply chain have shined a spotlight on potential issues in inventory management. The new streamlined system appears likely to mitigate these pain points.

Inventory management skills are a fundamental aspect of running an Amazon business, but tracking your inventory limits and performance might be an increased area of focus as the switch to the new system arrives.

Sellers can use the new capacity management system and view upcoming capacity limits within their FBA Dashboard within Seller Central. With added strategy and a new level of risk and reward, the importance of efficient inventory management intensifies.

Did The Amazon Prime Early Access Sale Live Up To Expectations?

The inaugural event billed as the “second Prime Day”, took place from October 11-12, and the numbers are in.

Amazon held the first-ever Amazon Prime Early Access Sale in mid-October, aiming to kick off the fourth quarter of 2022 with a bang.

With markdowns on products from Apple, Sony, Keurig, Hasbro, Ninja, Laneige and Amazon’s own devices, the wide-ranging sale had discounts for every shopper and was geared for the holiday season.

In addition to being a major sales event from the e-commerce leader, the promotion bridged the gap between Prime Day in July and late November’s Black Friday. The October date also is worth noting, as Amazon chose the month for Prime Day 2020 after it was delayed due to the worldwide pandemic.

Regarding the Prime Early Access Sale’s performance, Amazon released a few statistics and fun facts regarding the sale:

Members ordered more than 100 million items from Amazon’s selling partners, most of which are small businesses and medium-sized businesses
More than 8 million toys in the U.S., including from the Toys Gift Guide, sold during the 48-hour event, including from top brands like LEGO, Melissa & Doug, and Squishmallows
Some of the best sellers from the Top 100 deals list were Macbook Air M1; Peloton Bike; Bose earbuds and headphones; Casper pillows and toppers; and Shark hair dryers, vacuums, and air purifiers

It appears Amazon considers the event a success, a likely indicator that the first Prime Early Access Sale won’t be the last. Although we’ll have to wait until next year for the official word, sentiment around the event rates as positive.

Our Prime Early Access Sale was a great kickoff to the holidays, and the best part is that it’s only the beginning. Customers will find millions of must-have deals throughout the season that will help them continue to save money on gifts for loved ones.
Doug herrington, ceo of amazon worldwide stores

Others, however, have been a bit more bearish in their reporting of the performance.

So, where’s the truth? Did the “second Prime Day” as some deemed it live up to the moniker? Let’s dig in a little deeper.

The Amazon Prime Early Access Sale is No Prime Day, But Far Above Regular

In our opinion, the Prime Early Access Sale appears to be a success. Of course, the evaluation all depends on the benchmarks it’s judged against.

Anything is possible with Amazon events, but the “Second Prime Day” label proved to be too much to live up to. Analysts at Bank of America estimate $8 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) for the sales event. For comparison, July’s Prime Day rang in $10.7 billion.

However, some sellers experienced even greater success.

“Our game’s success is a testament to Amazon empowering unexpected entrepreneurs: two working moms who created a card game as a side hustle—which has ascended to a top seller in the Toys and Games category,” said Stacy Katz, co-creator of Not Parent Approved game. “Opportunities like Prime Early Access Sale have created a powerful boost to our business, as well as offering customers deep discounts and value. On the first day of the sale, we experienced a 500% increase in units sold!”

Given the newness of the Amazon Prime Early Access Sale and Prime Day’s massive success as a marquee sales event marked in red ink on the retail calendar, any expectations to match Prime Day were a bit far-fetched in the first place.

More Prime Day Than Black Friday

If the Prime Early Access Sale gets a 2023 sequel, one of the more valuable insights gathered can be centered on the purpose of the purchases. In official Amazon statements and promotional items, the “holiday” aspect has been repeatedly used.

With Amazon’s powerful might, the sale could be an attempt to make the Prime Early Access Sale the unofficial start date to the always-hectic holiday shopping season. Although Amazon’s report shows a massive amount of items bought from their toy guide, it appears a bulk of the purchases weren’t intended as presents.

According to a Numerator analysis of more than 44,000 Amazon Prime orders and 3,500 verified buyer surveys, only 29% of shoppers reported buying holiday gifts.

For sellers with products that perform better in the holiday season, it may cause an uptick in sales, but the event appears unlikely to add an extra month of products flying off the shelves.

Considering The Factors at Play

When juxtaposing the performance of the Amazon Prime Early Access Sale to Prime Day, we must also consider the conditions and caveats.

First, the Amazon Prime Early Access Sale faced an uphill battle when competing for attention in the way Prime Day has almost become its own holiday.

The Bank of America analysts noted Twitter mentions of the Prime Early Access Sale were down 70% relative to Prime Day. Like Sundays being a day for football or October 31st being for Halloween, Prime Day’s asserted itself as a time period dedicated to deals.

As the inaugural Prime Early Access Sale, the event inherently lacks the cache Prime Day earned with years of growth and investment. Prime Day is a day major brands and small Amazon sellers alike prepare for months ahead of time. Even though the exact date of Prime Day (July 12th) wasn’t announced by Amazon until two weeks before it kicked off, the expectation from sellers and shoppers alike is it happens in mid-July in years without a global pandemic to knock it off course.

The Prime Early Access Sale had a similar gap between the official announcement and the start date, but the lack of precedent made it difficult for smaller sellers to prepare accordingly and to build buzz among customers.

Overall, the Amazon Prime Early Access Sale results appear promising

While sentiment seems to be knocking the event as it fell short of Prime Day, those expectations proved to be quite unfair. Remove any association with Prime Day and the promotion would be one for the records.

Also, the initial Prime Day was considered a significant success even though its numbers since then dwarf the first-ever Prime Day. If the Early Access Sale makes a return next year, the skyrocketing popularity of Prime Day since its first year should be taken into heavy consideration.

If we’ve learned anything with Amazon over the years, it’s that things almost always get bigger.

It’s Official! The Prime Early Access Sale Is Happening

This week, Amazon confirmed rumors of a second Prime Day-like sales event titled the Prime Early Access Sale with a press release announcing the event. As previously reported, the Prime Early Access Sale will take place for 48 hours on October 11th and 12th.

The Prime Early Access Sale marks the first time the e-commerce superpower will hold two major sales events in one calendar year. However, it’s not the first time Amazon has held a major sales event in October, as Prime Day 2020 took place from October 13th to 14th after being pushed back from its usual July date as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After years of wondering if or when Amazon would look to go beyond Prime Day for annual sales holidays, the Early Access Sale appears to answer those questions. But what exactly is the Prime Early Access Sale, and what can Amazon sellers expect?

Part Prime Day, Part Black Friday?

Perhaps the most notable part of the announcement outside of the announcement itself, is it appears to serve as a kickoff for the quickly approaching holiday season.

“We are so excited to help Prime members kick off the holiday season with Amazon’s new Prime Early Access Sale—an exclusive opportunity for members to get deep discounts on top brands we know they are looking for this time of year. And members can start enjoying exclusive Prime benefits and offers now, plus find gift ideas for the family with our holiday gift guides and this year’s Toys We Love list.”
Jamil Ghani, vice president of Amazon Prime

A significant chunk of the press release focuses on kicking off the holiday season with access to thousands of deals exclusively for Prime members. While Black Friday has long served as the unofficial beginning of the hectic holiday season, the Prime Early Access Sale seeks to get the party started six weeks before Black Friday.

Additionally, shopping for the holidays a little earlier this year may have additional benefits beyond saving a few bucks during the promotional period. Due to the uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing supply chain disruption that continues to have ripple effects, crossing items off your shopping checklist over a longer period helps smooth out the always-chaotic holiday blitz starting on Black Friday and lasting for weeks.

More Money, More Benefits

This year, Amazon announced a price hike for the first time in years for their signature Prime subscription for customers, with rates going from $13 per month to $15, and $119 annually to $139.

The Prime Early Access Sale indicates the subscription’s price hike comes with additional benefits, so the roughly 160 million Amazon Prime subscribers get more bang while spending more bucks.

One of the most ballyhooed benefits recently added to the Prime membership is GrubHub+, with rewards and savings on the popular food delivery service. While this may not appear like news for Amazon sellers, the additional benefits outside of the Amazon marketplace for Prime members only makes the consumer base grow even larger. With benefits such as the aforementioned GrubHub+, Audible, Prime Video, Amazon Music Unlimited and countless more perks, the Prime membership base is strong and strengthens the Amazon marketplace further.

Prime Early Access Sale: Full Steam Ahead Into 2023

Although the event’s existence had been hinted about, the official announcement adds intrigue to what should be an interesting Q4. After two years of uncertainty and constant disruption, things are as close to “normal” as they’ve been in years.

While concerns about consumer spending linger internationally, the Prime Early Access Sale and subsequent holiday season provide a worthy source of optimism for Amazon sellers looking to close out 2022 on a positive note.

Amazon Prime Day sales by year, since 2015.

Even if the time for you to prepare for the Prime Early Access Sale is ticking, it goes without saying that sellers should not shrug off tactics to maximize visibility and sales during a period of skyrocketing sales.

Because it’s the first-ever Prime Early Access Sale, it’s difficult to know what to expect. However, if Prime Day is any indicator, this has the potential to be absolutely massive.

For Prime-eligible products, sellers can submit a Prime Exclusive Discount or Coupon before October 11, 2022 to participate in the Prime Early Access Sale.

Any measure sellers can take to put their product in a position for success should be taken, as a wave of sales during the event is sure to put you in *ahem* prime position to ride a wave of sales through the holiday season.

Consider what quick opportunities you can take to refine your business, from pricing to your product description to advertising. Now is the perfect time to check out tools like Competitor Intelligence, Viral Launch’s tool that gives you unparalleled insight into your competition so you can out-smart the competition and stop leaving dollars on the table.