The clock is ticking, and Amazon told FBA sellers to make sure their products arrive at its fulfillment centers by June 27 in order to take advantage of this year’s Prime Day shopping event, though some sellers appeared skeptical that Amazon would be able to check in all third-party sellers’ inventory to its warehouses in time.
In a post to sellers on Wednesday, Amazon wrote: “Don’t miss out – make sure your products arrive at fulfillment centers by June 27. We want you to have enough inventory for Prime Day!” (It may as well have said, We want to have enough inventory for Prime Day!)
It advised sellers to review its 2019 Prime Day guide “for promotion strategies, sales techniques, and access to social media templates that you can post right away.”
Amazon has not yet revealed the date of this year’s big event and teased, “Stay tuned for an announcement on the date for Prime Day 2019.”
The guide to Prime Day 2019 makes suggestions on how to take advantage of its shopping holiday – “Prime Day is more than just a sales boost – it’s a way to build awareness and gain traction on new products,” the company wrote.
It offers a special “Amazon Prime Day Social Toolkit” to help sellers advertise deals on social media. (A nice way to get sellers to do some marketing for its event.) And it suggested sellers consider using some of its paid services, such as Amazon Imaging Services, or consider getting loans through Amazon “to expand products, bulk-buy inventory, or increase ad spend.”
Here’s a calendar of past Prime Day events:
July 15, 2015
July 12, 2016
July 11, 2017 (kicked off on the 10th and ran for 30 hours)
July 17, 2018 (kicked off on the 16th and ran for 36 hours)
Some are predicting this year’s Prime Day to fall on July 9th, others believe it will fall on the 16th.
Last year, Amazon was hit with technical issues right after it kicked off its Prime Day deals. In referring to the glitches, an Amazon vice president had made a reference to error pages that feature pictures of “the dogs of Amazon” when he said, “we love dogs at our Amazon offices, not on our store.”
Referencing those issues, a seller wrote of this year’s Prime Day, “If it’s like last year’s, “Canine Appreciation Day” might be a more accurate name.”
