How Brands Should Prepare for Q4 ‘Peak Season’ on Retail Marketplaces Like Amazon - Episode 307

Kiri shares lessons from past Q4's, as well as lessons learned from 2023's summertime Prime Day so that consumer brands can be best prepared for the peak selling season. Discussed in this episode:

• Prime Day learnings - any level of Prime Day activity, no matter the promotion, led to a higher uptick in sales than not doing any promotions at all.
• Simplicity was in favor. Coupons were the top-used promotion among Acadia clients, Clients using coupons saw a 322% increase in daily sales compared to the daily average in the two-week lead-up to Prime Day. Clients offering anything between 5% and 75% off.
• Prime-exclusive discounts (PEDs) were the second most popular promotion.
• The flashier deals, like lightning deals and spotlight deals, are smart bets – for the brands that can afford them. These placements cost more and can be trickier to navigate
• Have backups for deals that don’t run.Advertising
  • Top-of-funnel ads that build awareness and consideration need to run early
  • Switch to performance ads during the event to capture demand
  • Understand that ad performance will suffer leading up to the event. Some brands say they don’t want to participate in running ads or discounts - beware!

Ad spend rose 338% year on year, reflecting an annual trend in increased CPC of 30%. BUT conversion rose 23.6%, in step with spend. At the same time, ROAS was up, avoiding erosion thanks to higher overall prices and better conversion rates that offset higher costs. Consider that if your competitors are leaning into tentpole events with ads and promotions, but you are not, their BSR will improve and yours will fall behind. Are you willing to take a long-term hit for a short-term saving?   Read our 2023 peak season prep guidelines (with timeline!) here. Read our Prime Day recaps on the Acadia blog.