Too many sales make Prime Day less impactful

While some advertisers adhere to Amazon’s recommended levels of spending, others are buying ads away from Amazon, said Hillary Kupferberg, VP of performance media at Exverus Media. With retailers like Walmart and Target offering similar deals during Prime Day, competition for ad budgets is increasing, she said.

Some advertisers are also reluctant to splurge on Prime Day because the event is sandwiched between Fourth of July sales and back-to-school shopping, Kupferberg said. Consumers could be fatigued by the onslaught of deals.

“It reinforces how cluttered we are and how much competition there is,” Kupferberg said. “Everyone understands that it’s an uncertain economic time, but nobody is quite sure how that will play out.”

Mike Feldman, svp of commerce at Flywheel, suggested that the timing of Prime Day this year could help Amazon boost sales heading into the holidays, when some experts expect a pullback in consumer spending.

“Amazon is going to try to maximize their inflationary impact,” he said. “Shoppers have more time to make purchases—this is to make sure that they win Q3 and mitigate risk heading into the holidays.”

Brands also continue to heavily scrutinize their ad spend due to economic concerns.

“The ultimate thing that we’re hearing is that the ad budgets need to be more effective than ever before,” Feldman said.

He added that the payoff with Prime Day can be substantial for brands looking to get ahead of holiday sales.

“If you win Prime Day, you win ranking and could be competitive for the rest of the year,” he said.