Will Prime Day Be Cancelled or Delayed?
With the accustomed date traditionally set by Amazon fast approaching, excited shoppers and dedicated third-party Amazon sellers alike are in quandary about the potential date of the much anticipated Amazon Prime Day 2020. However, with the looming threat of novel Coronavirus, the exact date of the annual Amazon event remains a mystery up to now.
The pandemic brought about by Coronavirus has undeniably changed how people live. The consumer industry has even been forced to make some adjustments in order to address the peculiarities accompanying the so-called “new normal.” Even the multinational tech-company, Amazon Inc, has to take necessary steps to maintain the safety of its personnel, especially those working in their e-commerce branch. Thus, leading to the rumors of the possible delay or cancellation of Amazon Prime Day, which is normally observed in July of every year.
In retrospect, Amazon Prime Day began during the 20th anniversary of Amazon. To show the company’s value to its Prime members, July 15, 2015, marked the first Amazon Prime Day event. The first-ever Amazon Prime Day lasted for 24 hours with 9 participating locations, namely the U.S., UK, Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Canada, and Austria.
History aside, one question remains unanswered up to now. Now that its traditional date is fast approaching, shoppers and sellers alike are still wondering about the Amazon Prime Day scheduled date, or better yet will there be a Prime Day 2020, to begin with. Thus, resulting Amazon Prime Day predictions of both Prime Day seller and buyers.
Amazon Prime Day Predictions: Rumored 2020 Schedule
If you are searching online for the Prime Day schedule, various opinions, alleged leaks, and predictions will come to the fore. However, two possible generic dates are highly discussed and even regurgitated in most online news sites, which intrigues a Prime Day seller.
Reuters reported that there is a plan by Amazon to suspend the much anticipated Prime Day until at least August. The said date surfaced because of the alleged internal meeting notes that were seen by Reuters. With the said target month, it is expected that it could lead to a potential impact of $100 million or even up to $300 million, as what Forbes likewise emphasized in their report.
Alternatively, another development concerning the Amazon Prime Day 2020 schedule has surfaced online with the publication of a new report by Tom’s Guide. According to the said website, Prime Day will likely happen in September, again citing Coronavirus as the main reason for its delay. And if would happen, this will somehow affect the sale of a Prime Day seller.
However, upon closer inspection, the basis for the date was the previously published report of The Wall Street Journal, which was updated on May 21, 2020. Therefore, making it just over a month newer than April 4, 2020, Reuters’ report that cited August as the potential Prime Day date.
With those facts in mind, up to this very moment, there are still no updated exact dates for Prime Day, apart from the previously mentioned months, August and September. As of the current, what we have are all Amazon Prime Day predictions. With most of the US states and other participating countries still trying to reach normalcy and be attuned with the new normal, the chances of Amazon Prime Day 2020 happening in its traditional scheduled date may be lower.
Why Prime Day May Be Called Off
The reality of Prime Day being canceled this year is probable. In general, you can easily blame Covid-19 itself, but its magical disappearance will not immediately repair the damages it brought to the global industry.
Although based on conjecture, the unemployment rate due to the Coronavirus will affect Amazon’s business strategy. One of the reasons why Prime Day was created from a marketing standpoint is to lure buyers with deals and discounts.
However, with 1.48 million more Americans filing for unemployment just last week as The Guardian reported, and the increasing global unemployment rate, it cannot be helped to surmise the potential negative impact of unemployment to Amazon Prime Day if pushed either in July, August, or September.
During this pandemic, many consumers have lost their source of income or had to tighten their budget due to the economic uncertainty that Covid-19 has brought about. If such a case would worsen, instinctually, consumers will choose survival over non-essential consumer products. As a consequence, a potential decrease in demand for non-essential Prime Day deals may happen.
Another reason for the potential cancellation of Prime Day would be the disruption of the global supply chain. Admittedly, most Amazon products being sold online, especially by third-party sellers are ordered or sourced from China and the rest of the world.
While some of the suppliers have already restarted their operations, the fear of experiencing wave two of the virus is still being monitored. Hence, some of the suppliers, manufacturers, logistics, are operating with skeleton staff or workforce, which may greatly affect the efficiency and services of the said industries. And the case of having to prioritize certain tasks over non-essential ones was even experienced by Amazon itself.
In a Reuters Exclusive, Amazon was quoted stating that: “We will temporarily stop taking orders on some non-essential products on Amazon.it and Amazon.fr,” “This lets fulfillment center associates focus on receiving and shipping the products customers need most at this time.”
Taken altogether, the health risk, disruption of supply & demand chain, the increasing unemployment rate, the likelihood of Amazon canceling their Prime Day may be highly probable. However, Amazon is yet to release a comment about the said speculations online about Prime Day 2020 scheduled date.
Why Amazon Sellers Should Prepare for Prime Day 2020
Back in 2019, $2 billion in sales was the estimated contribution of third-party merchants during Prime Day 2019. That is why it would surely be a loss if you don’t prepare for the rumored Prime day in August or September.
Although non-essential items might not be in demand, you can still focus on essential products. This may include, but not limited to beauty & personal care, health & household items, grocery; industrial, scientific, books, and pet supplies. You may also take this chance to offload stagnant stocks during the Prime Day.
Since price wars are is to be expected, apart from optimizing your listing through proper Amazon SEO practices, you should also consider utilizing an intelligent AI repricer like Seller Snap.
Seller Snap can efficiently help you with a smart and automated repricing strategy. With its advanced algorithm, scanning for changes in the market as well as understanding competitor’s behavior. Thus, resulting in an automated repricing approach aimed to help you increase your chance of winning the Buy Box and improve the performance of your Amazon Store.
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