With the 2023 holiday season quicky approaching, it’s time to prepare your brand’s Amazon store for major sales! From Black Friday deals to shopping for the New Year, consumers continue to scour Amazon for the best holiday and gift deals. Ensure that your brand’s Amazon store is more than holiday-ready this season with our helpful tips below!
Reevaluate Your Amazon Strategy
Before the holiday season, take the time to reevaluate your Amazon marketing strategy. Consumers turn to Amazon for their shopping needs because it offers a quick and convenient shopping experience. Our team recommends establishing Prime eligibility for your products to ensure you are meeting your customer’s needs, especially during the biggest sales season. In addition, we recommend creating eye-catching content that is consistent with your brand’s presence.
Optimize Amazon Listings
To prepare for the increased traffic on Amazon during the holidays, a critical step to take is to ensure all your listings are optimized for search and conversions. You want customers to find your listings, but you also want them to convert. A great way to optimize your brand’s Amazon page is to conduct market research with different images as well as fresh keyword research to ensure your brand isn’t missing important search terms. Prepare your listings for the chaos of the holiday season with updated seasonal imagery and videos, relevant product details, or holiday-related keywords.
Update PPC Campaigns and Overall Budget
During the holiday season, increased traffic is expected to drain your daily budget faster, requiring adjustments in your brand’s PPC campaign budgets and keyword bids to maintain ad visibility. You should consider raising the daily budget if your ads are profitable and adjust as needed. Consider utilizing an Amazon advertising analytics platform for insights into your PPC campaign performance and profitability, which is crucial during this period. Additionally, target holiday-specific keywords and explore different ad types, like Sponsored Brands and Display ads, to stand out amidst competition and engage potential customers effectively.
Cheery Holiday Deals
You can enhance your sales on Amazon by creating promotions, deals, or coupons within Seller Central, regardless of whether you are brand registered. To set up a deal, navigate to the Advertising tab and select “Deals,” where Amazon lists eligible deals with associated costs. Creating a clippable coupon is also an option, visible to customers on your product listing, but keep in mind the minimum budget and redemption fees. It’s recommended to plan deals a few weeks ahead of significant shopping events and maintain ongoing discounts to attract customers during the holiday season.
Holiday Inventory
Amazon fulfillment centers have been known to get backed up, especially around the holiday season. Prepare ahead of time and get your holiday inventory to a fulfillment center on time. To ensure uninterrupted order fulfillment during inventory delays at FBA centers, consider creating an FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) offer on your listing, utilizing your own warehouse, home office, or a third-party fulfillment center. This strategy allows you to compete effectively with competitors who might run out of stock, especially if you qualify for Seller-Fulfilled Prime, retaining the Prime badge even when handling orders yourself. During the holiday season, meeting customer demand on time is crucial, and the Prime badge becomes less significant if timely delivery is maintained.
Prepare for Holiday Returns
A downside of Amazon sales is the inevitable after-holiday wave of product returns. While many sellers can expect December to be their best sales month of the year, January is usually the busiest for returned items. Last year, Amazon offered an Extended Holiday Return Policy for any orders placed between October 11 and December 25, 2022, making them eligible for return until January 31, 2023. We expect to see a similar return policy this season.
The holidays will be here before you know it! Does your brand need help to finalize its Amazon marketing strategy? Get in touch today!