Your Performance Marketing Primer for Prime Day 2023

Deals and discounts have always been strong incentives for consumers, but with this year’s rising inflation and interest rates, the deal-driven mindset has all but dominated the shopping experience. 

That said, Prime Day is coming at a prime time, as consumers look to make the most of their spending in 2023.

What and When is Prime Day?

Prime Day is an annual two-day event hosted by Amazon for its Prime subscribers. It began in 2015 to celebrate the company’s 20th birthday and continues to be a highly anticipated shopping event each year. The dates are kept under wraps until the weeks leading up to its occurrence. Prime Day 2023 is confirmed to take place July 11 - 12. With more than 173 million people in the US using Prime in 2023 (practically two-thirds of the population!), Prime Day is sure to be popular once again.

How Will Inflation Impact Prime Day Spend?

While inflation remains a heavy weight on the consumer’s wallet, there has been a slight glimmer of returning spend at the start of Q2. Consumer spending rose 0.8% MOM in April, after previously seeing virtually no upticks and, in some cases, even a negative change. Granted 0.8% is not going to sound any alarms, but it’s still a positive indication of some resilience and drive in the market.

Amazon is not immune to these economic impacts and is seeing softer growth as well. However, there are five product categories where the company is expected to have its share of total ecommerce sales increase slightly:

1. Computer and consumer electronics
2. Office equipment and supplies
3. Health and personal care
4. Apparel and accessories
5. Furniture and home furnishings

Health and personal care is Amazon’s largest growing category. It made up just 7.4% of their sales in 2020 but is projected to reach 11.0% by 2024. This highlights the current trend of consumers purchasing more essential goods online these days.

Affiliate Strategies to the Rescue!

Growth this Prime Day may be more muted than in years past, but there are still plenty of ways for advertisers to unlock success. In addition to reviewing your past performance data (both advertisers and publishers can use our Peak Shopping & Holiday Analysis Dashboard in Insights to easily review previous Prime Day performance), we recommend these reliable affiliate strategies:

Dive into Discounts

In a survey, 67% of consumers reported having intentions of buying items on sale and 53% reported that inflation will have a moderate to significant impact on their spending this year. Brands will need to keep this consumer sentiment in mind when trying to capitalize on this year’s Prime Day halo effect.

• Offer affiliate exclusive discounts or vanity codes with top-performing publishers within your affiliate program to bolster conversions and enhance brand favorability.
• Participate in cashback events happening around the Prime Day time frame when consumers are already positioned to be shopping.
• Lean into sale/discount-oriented language in your promotional messaging.
• Last year, CJ found that the early promotional bird caught the worm. CJ global network data revealed that retail orders grew 26% YOY and sales revenue 67% YOY on July 11, the day before the start of Amazon’s two-day event. Advertisers and publishers should be flexible with their promotional timing and stretch their efforts to cover the timeframe leading up to Prime Day to make the most of the shopping season.
  
  

Tap into Mobile & Social

According to eMarketer, in 2023 over 66% of the population is purchasing via their mobile devices, and 77% of consumers are shopping digitally. Mobile shopping is on a steady rise and social platforms play a large part in this. TikTok is taking the Gen Z market by storm and Amazon has even rolled out a new TikTok-like product discovery feature on its app.

• Work with mobile/social-based partners in CJ’s expansive publisher network to reach consumers where they’re at, especially the younger demographic.
• Influencers and creators are in high demand this year as their reviews are significantly swaying Gen Z’s decisions to purchase. Use CJ’s Recruit Partners tool to discover new partners based on publisher models. Here you can filter to find influencers and evaluate their website data, social reach, and social media engagement rate.
• Looking to run a full-blown influencer or social campaign through affiliate? While it’s a bit too late to explore CJ’s influencer campaign services for Prime Day, CJ Influence and Perlu are fantastic options for Q4 or even...Prime Day 2024 😉
  
  

Bend into Flexibility

At the end of the day, shoppers are feeling the pinch of rising costs and are looking for flexible shopping and payment options that suit their needs. Affiliate is omnipresent in the omnichannel customer journey, making it easy to find a solution that fits any shape or size.

• According to Mintel, over half of consumers are shopping both online and in-store. Try weaving offerings into your affiliate program such as Buy-Online-Pickup-In-Store (BOPIS), text-to-shop, scan-and-go checkout, and more.

• Work with a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) partner, such as Klarna or Afterpay. Commonly associated with online shopping, consumers forget that BNPL has recently become an in-store payment method as well. Klarna launched its “Klarna Card” last year, and Afterpay offers seamless in-store payments via its mobile app. If your brand is offering BNPL payments in-store, be sure to clearly communicate this in-store. Implement signage or QR codes that link consumers to where they can learn more or sign up for the service.

There may not be an exact science when it comes to mastering ecommerce amidst economic uncertainty, but there are certainly ways that brands can prepare and proactively adjust to come out on top. Prime Day will remain an annual shopping pillar for brands looking to promote around peak seasonality and with these affiliate strategies at the forefront, performance is primed for success.