Amazon Prime Day is Amazons mid-year sales blitz where Amazon Prime members can shop for deeply discounted sale items. Even non-members can sign up for a 30-day free trial membership and take advantage of the discounts. The sales racked up during the 2018 event are estimated to be around $3.4 billion from 100 million products sold. So, what does this have to do with ordinary retailers, and what can they learn from Amazon Prime Days success and its glitches?<\/p>\n
Stage an Event and Advertise It<\/strong><\/p>\n Shoppers love sales events! This is not exclusive to women, as is evident when Harbor Freight hosts its parking lot tent sales. Sales events bring in new customers and regular shoppers alike. Sales events are fun, especially when great deals are offered (sometimes known as loss leaders). If your store is a membership store, such as Costco or Sams Club, allow non-members to shop, too. They will in all likelihood be enticed to purchase a membership.<\/p>\n Create an Atmosphere of Loyalty <\/strong><\/p>\n Even after paying Amazon Primes annual membership fee, members tend to spend more money on purchases than non-members do. One reason could be that Prime members get free shipping. Who doesn’t like getting something, even shipping, for free? You can offer your customers some type of free membership that comes with a free item after a certain amount of purchase. Alternatively, you can extend a discount on the next purchase when the punch card is filled. Coffee stands do this very successfully.<\/p>\n Create a Pleasant Shopping Experience<\/strong><\/p>\n We’re all familiar with the impersonal shopping experience in big-box retail stores, such as Walmart and Target. Smaller stores can create an atmosphere of personal service with just a few simple touches, such as gift-wrapping, a dish of mints by the register, demonstrations or classes, and mastering the fine line between being helpful to the customer and being a lurking annoyance. Even the big-box stores could learn a thing or two about creating a pleasant shopping experience that goes beyond the Walmart greeters perfunctory greeting.<\/p>\n Stock Hard-to-Find Items<\/strong><\/p>\n One reason some people turn to online shopping is that they can’t find what they’re looking for in regular stores. Tune in to your customers wants and needs, and do your best to fulfill those requirements. Some stores allow you to submit a request for an item, but they don’t follow through, and the item never appears on the shelves. Be attentive to your customers, and they will reward you with their business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Amazon Prime Day is Amazons mid-year sales blitz where Amazon Prime members can shop for deeply discounted sale items. Even non-members can sign up for a 30-day free trial membership and take advantage of the discounts. The sales racked up during the 2018 event are estimated to be around $3.4 billion from 100 million products […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-retail-business","category-retail-store-marketing"],"yoast_head":"\n