Amazon Prime Day 2018: Date Released

Sellers everywhere have been busy preparing for the high-traffic shopping event for most of Q2, some for even longer — submitting Lightning Deals, optimizing their product listings with clear images and compelling copy, and refining keywords.

These are only some examples of the measures that Amazon sellers are taking in order to establish a Prime Day strategy that is not only proactive and successful on the actual day itself, but that extends itself both into the days leading up to and after Prime Day. It is therefore important that sellers don’t utilize all of their resources and ad spend prior to and on the actual day, but instead allocate appropriately as searches and sales volumes are typically elevated following Prime Day.

The date has been released and the longest Prime Day ever will likely start on midday July 16 and continue through Tuesday, July 17. The announcement of this 36-hour deal and promotion period was accidentally published on a Prime Day banner on the Amazon U.K. website, which has since been removed. Despite the fact that the date was listed for the U.K, chances are high that it will be the same for the U.S., as Amazon has run the popular event across many countries on the same day historically.

Slated to surpass the 2017 sales total of $2.41B, Prime Day 2018 is expected to drive a significant increase in Amazon Prime subscribers, as being a Prime member (a $119 per year subscription service) is a prerequisite in order to experience the holiday’s discounts. Amazon typically runs a promotion in order to rake in additional subscribers leading up to the event and it is likely that the e-commerce giant will offer this discount again to non-Prime members. If marketplace sellers analyze their inventory now so they have a strong inventory position during the event, have a pricing strategy in place, and put the customer first with every transaction, they will be poised for success.