Amazon’s 30 hour sale has ended, and while the online retailer doesn’t release sales data, it did release a statement saying yesterday was its biggest shopping event in its history, even bigger than 2016 Black Friday and Cyber Monday results.

By noon yesterday, third-party sellers sold 50% more items than in the same time frame in 2016.

Internet Retailer forecasts stated that U.S. shoppers would spend $1.56 billion at Amazon on Prime Day 2017, up 20% from the estimated sales total for Prime Day 2016 ($1.3 billion).

It’s no doubt the event was huge for Amazon. But they weren’t the only retailers getting in on the fun.

Online
Many retailers, like Walmart, Forever21, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, competed with their own sales. Walmart promoted free two-day shipping right and featured smart home products on its homepage. With Amazon selling three times as many Echo-family devices yesterday as it did in 2016, Walmart’s approach was directly aimed at Prime Day shoppers.

Forever 21 and Macy’s took a different approach with “Black Friday in July” promotions:

And Bloomingdale’s offered a 25% off online only discount on top of discounted items:

Email

Retailers were really creative with emails yesterday, using everything from “Prime Day to Save” subject lines to this example from 80sTees:

Beginning at 11:00 AM ET, the retailer offered a two-hour only deal of 60% off select items:

At 1:00 ET, the savings went up to 65%

And every two hours, a bigger discount was offered. 3:00 ET:

5:00 ET:

7:00 ET:

9:00 ET:

The items included in each two-hour sale block differed. It’s a really creative way to keep customers engaged and shopping all day – and a tactic you can implement for your Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals. 

By the way, 80sTees has one of the most creative and interactive pop-ups I’ve seen. You enter your address and spin the wheel to win a discount. Seriously, go check it out at www.80stees.com.

Other retailers, like Tanga, expanded its discounts from a single day to an entire week:

It checked Amazon’s prices regularly and dropped its prices even lower

No Discounts? No Problem

Discounting isn’t the only way to get in on the Prime Day fun. Many retailers, such as Waterford and Vineyard Vines, offered free shipping as a way to engage and reward shoppers.

Since its inception three years ago, Prime Day has become the online shopping event of the summer, and retailers can take advantage of the hype and excitement it brings. And there are a few lessons to learn. The biggest one is to give your customers options in how and when they shop. 

Amazon offered customers with Echo devices special deals that weren’t available online:

It also offered customers mobile alerts of items before they went on sale – and an easy way for shoppers to add them to wishlists.

You can apply many of these tactics to your upcoming holiday strategies. Questions? Let us know in the comments section.

Megan Ouellet

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