Prime Day exam: Someone broke 100 million in 2 hours? A large number of sellers are just running

The annual Prime Day exam is underway!

On Amazon Prime Day , in every chat group and in every greeting , there is an indispensable sentence :

Did you get a big order today?

Based on the feedback from the majority of cross-border sellers, this year's Prime Day continued the past patterns: some had huge sales, some had small hits, and some had a sharp drop in orders. In between, there were also cases of heavy losses due to various account closures, overlapping discount codes, etc.!

Slightly different from previous years, this year's Prime Day did not seem to be as intense as expected. A word widely mentioned by sellers during the communication process was "quiet". The fact is that no matter in WeChat groups, Moments or major forums, there are fewer voices from sellers discussing Member Day, and fewer screenshots of explosive orders... Was this year's Prime Day met with a cold reception in all aspects?

Prime Day life: some companies work overtime and stay up late, while others just lie back and relax!

It is reported that during Prime Day every year , many cross-border e-commerce companies require their employees to stay up late on duty to deal with various emergencies such as copycat sales, account abnormalities, etc. during the membership day, and this year is no exception.

One of the companies' membership day work schedule is:

I will go to work at 5 am on the 12th and 13th and get off work at 11 pm!

Another company's work arrangement is:

get off work starts at 2.30pm on the 12th and ends at 6-8am on the 13th (depending on the situation);

get off work starts at 2.30pm on the 13th and ends at 6am to 8am on the 14th (depending on the situation);

We will go to work as usual at 8:30 on the 15th.

Employees who stayed up late to work began to express their thoughts this morning: "I can't take it anymore", "This is the third night I've stayed up with Amazon", "These days, to work at Amazon you have to learn to stay up late and work all night", "Although I'm very sleepy, I can finally get a commission this month!"... Although these late-night workers have different moods, they all call Amazon Prime Day a "sleepless night of operations."

Many sellers who don’t care about staying up late to work overtime have raised questions: Can overtime help increase the number of orders? It is reported that many old Amazon sellers did not require employees to work overtime this year, and some even did not sign up for Prime Day due to the dismal sales performance of Prime Day in the past two years.

Operation A stated that the company's membership day had been silent for two consecutive years, and the frustrated boss did not even hold a mobilization meeting. Some time ago, when others were working hard to prepare goods for membership day, the boss did not say anything about signing up for membership day.

The company where operator B works was unwilling to travel thousands of miles to bring warmth to foreigners, and did not participate in the Member Day. He said that the delivery fees to some European sites are already very high, and VAT is also a large cost. In addition, the recent poor exchange rate has eaten up part of the profits, greatly reducing the already meager profits. If they still participate in the Member Day low-price promotion at this time, it will only put more pressure on profits. Even if they are lucky enough to get a big order by participating in the Member Day, it will not make much sense to increase sales.

The company where Operations C works has so much internal competition that signing up for Membership Day would mean huge losses, so the company has no plans to participate in Membership Day at all. " We don't make any moves, everything is still the same . I'm a little envious of those who work overtime. " In Operations B's opinion, companies that still require employees to work late night shifts should have good profits on a normal basis.

What is the real situation for these sellers who signed up for Prime Day? Are their business conditions really good during normal times?

Prime Day : The day of explosive sales: sellers surpassed 100 million in 2 hours? Small explosions are the true state of sellers!

As we all know, the Beijing time for Amazon Prime Day this year is:

Amazon Japan: July 11, 23:00

Amazon Germany: July 12 at 6:00

Amazon UK: July 12 at 7am

Amazon US: July 12, 15:00

As the starting point of Prime Day, the Japanese site attracted a lot of attention from sellers as soon as it started. As expected, the following words about explosive sales began to spread wildly in the cross-border circle soon:

The Japanese site achieved sales of over 10 million in one hour and over 100 million in two hours. We can create unlimited possibilities.

What does it mean to break 100 million in 2 hours? This is a number that many sellers cannot surpass even after working hard for a year, 5 years or more! So, does this thing really exist?

If it is true, I can only say that it is amazing that the Japanese station can achieve this result!

If it is fake, you can immediately withdraw your envious eyes. In the past two days, I have seen similar words and familiar pictures, but they are screenshots of another site circulating in the circle of friends, such as:

Europe broke 100 million in 1 hour, broke 1 billion in 2 hours, and the boss rewarded a Shenzhen Bay sea view house. We can create unlimited possibilities!

After the Japanese site, Prime Days in Europe and the United States have been launched one after another. The United States is the largest market for Chinese sellers to go global, so since 2:00 pm yesterday, many people have started a nervous countdown: Will the US Prime Day be a big hit? With the official launch of the US Prime Day, cross-border sellers have reached a small peak in their discussions about the Prime Day.

Summarizing the order situation of cross-border sellers on member days, we found that many sellers successfully achieved explosive orders.

The power of Prime Day flash sales is truly extraordinary, and it was my first time experiencing the joy of a four-digit purchase;

The stores that did not report Prime Day discounts were different from those that did, and the sales volume was very different;

Amazon Prime Day is really awesome. Is this an order something I could have imagined?

It was my first time participating, and sales volume more than doubled compared to usual, which is pretty good!

Normally we have 8 orders, but today we have 33 orders, which is double .

…

"Is this the power of Membership Day? We have received 15 orders in less than half an hour after the event started. I hope that my new products will be among the top 20 on the entire network, and that my old products can be cleared out of stock as expected." After seeing the sales volume, a seller happily said that today's happiness was brought by the booming orders.

Good news like this is still coming in frequently. Unlike the explosive sales of big sellers, the orders of many small and medium-sized sellers are just a small explosion, or just a little more than usual. Although there is no big surprise, it is acceptable. Sellers with a good mentality do not forget to entertain themselves. "This year's Member Day is really good. There was 1 order, an increase of 100%. I feel that the future is very promising", " Usually there is 1 order a day , and today there were 10 orders. This is simply a super explosion of orders "...

According to past experience, American consumers are not as hardworking as Chinese people on Double Eleven. They do not place orders as soon as 12:00 a.m. U.S. time, but start shopping after a good night's sleep. Therefore, sales are concentrated at around 7:00 p.m. on the 12th.

Therefore, many sellers on the US site did not have any orders at the beginning. After several hours of waiting, they finally received enthusiastic orders from consumers.

Prime Day ’s runner-up day: This year’s membership day is not as good as last year’s. Some people pressed F5 buttons so many times but still didn’t place any orders!

Prime Day has always been a big-selling carnival, with medium-sized sellers booming and small sellers running behind. This year is no exception. Many sellers are already complaining helplessly that they have pressed F5 buttons to pieces but still have no orders:

Since I started participating in Member Day, there are only four words to describe it - participation is the most important.

No splash, what a waste of $1500.

It’s Member’s Day, so just go to bed, there won’t be any big move. With inflation so severe, there’s no money, let alone buying anything.

So far, this year's Prime Day performance is not as good as usual .

There were basically no orders for my flash sales on the European site , and the situation on the American site was even worse.

There was no movement, and it felt no different from usual. It felt like it would be better if I didn’t participate in the event.

The ad was a big hit, the acos was several times higher than usual, and without adding bids and budget, the conversion rate was extremely low.

Dear Amazon team, please check your server. Why is there no order on Prime Day?

Prime Day is almost over, why are there no orders? Are you still not awake? Show us the crazy shopping spirit of Double 11 !

I had been thinking about staying up late to stare at the computer last night, but unfortunately the progress bar ran slower than a turtle, so I decided to just take a shower and go to bed early.

Judging from sellers’ feedback, the number of Amazon sellers running behind this year seems to be much higher than in previous years.

"From what we can see now, the old seller group is quiet, with no one sad or happy, but the service providers in the circle of friends are boiling, giving people the feeling that it is the bonus period of the past." Based on the feedback from many cross-border sellers, the atmosphere of Membership Day this year is indeed much quieter. Small and medium-sized sellers generally reported that the increase was not large, and even the voices discussing Prime Day have decreased a lot. I wonder if it is because the number of sellers participating in Membership Day has decreased.

"Last year, we had more than 3,000 orders on Prime Day, but this year we've only had more than 300 orders so far." A European seller said that this Prime Day was the worst one he had ever participated in.

Another seller shared the same view. " The demand this year is obviously weak and cannot compare to Prime Day in previous years . In previous years, the sales volume was about 4 times the normal sales volume, but this year's sales volume is only 2 times." The seller said that the products he sells are still the top 3 in the category , but this is the only result !

Prime Day tragedy comparison: Another tragedy of discount setting error occurred!

Amazon sellers do not share the same joys and sorrows, especially when it comes to sadness. This year, a large number of Amazon sellers were abused by Prime Day in various ways.

Is it bad enough to sign up for Prime Day but not get any orders? In fact, it’s also bad enough to get a lot of orders. Every year before Prime Day , there are always experienced people who almost tell you: Be sure to check whether there is a problem with overlapping discount codes . If you are not sure, be sure to turn off unnecessary non-public promotions .

As a result, many sellers still make this old mistake: "There is a seller in my category whose product is only priced at $17.99, and there is a 50% coupon below. I suspect he wrote an extra zero." What's worse, there are sellers whose product prices are close to $0 after the discount, and they have to pay a few dollars for delivery. In other words, the sellers are losing money to ship the products to consumers, and they are bound to lose money.

" It's the time of the year again to contribute advertising fees to my brother-in-law like crazy . " In addition to the problem of discount code stacking, the problem of advertising explosion has also been widely complained by sellers, so much so that some people's creative enthusiasm came out casually: "To the speechless and roaring on that platform, who said that ACOS2000% is not a hero..."

Prime Day is a time for people to compete for misery, and there are inevitably various accidents such as logistics delays, weak platforms, and closure of stores.

It is reported that some sellers’ goods are still on the way, and they are definitely going to miss the Member Day perfectly; some sellers’ goods have been successfully put on the shelves, and they have also signed up for the event. When they are about to rub their hands and wait for the sales to explode, the link becomes a dead link , or the store is closed ! It is conceivable how complicated it is to fall on the eve of Member Day.

Prime Day at a crossroads: reach new sales or clear out inventory and leave !

Why should you participate in Prime Day ?

Some people may say, “Nonsense, of course we need to improve product rankings and make money.” This is true for some sellers, but there are still many sellers who don’t think too much about making money and just want to clear out the unsold inventory in these two days.

Did they all succeed in achieving their goals?

For sellers who want to make money, many have made money, but many others have seen “increased revenue but not increased profits.”

" This year, it is obvious that products with high unit prices are even harder to sell. Products with low unit prices can still maintain the status quo , but the profit is not as good as before . Now the internal competition is too serious, and the price cannot be raised. We can only further optimize the cost . " A seller believes that similar to the domestic 618, the first month of reach + event promotion = making money; no reach, no event = declining performance; no reach but with events, performance may increase slightly.

The fact that the product is profitable has outperformed many of its peers. Many sellers reported that they are now almost at a stage of "losing money to gain publicity". Affected by the exchange rate, there were especially many complaints from sellers on the European site during the Member Day.

"The exchange rate between the euro and the dollar is 1:1...the last time was ten years ago." The European exchange rate has dropped drastically recently, and coupled with the fact that Prime Day prices are affected by the lowest prices in the recent 30 days, many sellers are indeed philanthropists.

For sellers who want to clear inventory, the results are equally satisfying and unsatisfactory.

"Prime Day = my exclusive day for clearing out inventory . Others make money by slacking off, but I lose money by lying flat . " In order to get rid of "stubborn" inventory, some people sell goods at a discount. Although there is no profit, it is good that the goods are finally sold. Unfortunately, there are still many sellers who want to sell products at a loss, but consumers are not buying it. "They don't even want the bargains they got for free. What are they thinking?" The sellers silently think: Is the discount I gave not big enough?

For these sellers, Prime Day is more like a crossroads in life. Once they have cleared their inventory, they will leave. " I don't want a huge increase in orders, I just want to clear my inventory and put an end to my Amazon career. " A seller who is considering quitting said that for others, Prime Day carries the expectation of a huge increase in orders, but for him, Prime Day is just the last leg of his Amazon journey. He has long wanted to quit Amazon, but he still has to deal with the unsaleable inventory before he quits.

Perhaps even more people want to leave Amazon. Some sellers who can’t make money after Prime Day will leave, some sellers whose cash flow is dragged down by overstocked inventory will leave, and some sellers who used to make money but now find it difficult to do business on Amazon may also leave...

Thinking: Why is this year's Prime Day not as good as previous years?

Prime Day is like a midterm exam, reflecting too many real-life problems.

"This year's Prime Day was too quiet. Not many people posted pictures in the group, there were fewer discussions, and even fewer jokes." Many sellers commented on this year's Prime Day. Industry insiders said that this result was expected. It is foreseeable that the big promotion in the second half of the year will most likely not reach the same level as last year.

First, soaring inflation has led to price increases across the board, causing consumers to cut spending and become more wary of intermittent flash deals designed to encourage impulse purchases. Fewer orders from sellers has led to more involution among peers, resulting in lower industry profit margins.

For the US site alone, the US inflation is too serious, and consumers are tightening their purse strings, which will definitely affect sellers' sales. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a surge in online shopping in the past two years, which has overdrawn demand. According to data released by the US Department of Labor on June 10, the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) in May rose 8.6% year-on-year, the highest since December 1981. The US Consumer Price Index for June will be released, and many US experts said that the US Consumer Price Index in June will continue to "maintain a high level" or is likely to "set a new high."

Amazon is also becoming less attractive to consumers as more competitors enter the fray. Companies like Walmart, Target and Best Buy are hosting competing deals.

It is understood that Target's big promotion started on July 11, one day earlier than Prime Day, and lasted longer. "The activities of these companies seem to be more attractive." Relevant American people said that the inventory of goods in the United States is seriously overstocked, and major department stores in the United States have been forced to launch a "discount war" to stimulate purchasing power, but the inventory volume of up to tens of billions of yuan still makes merchants complain.

Finally, Prime Day prices may not be the lowest prices Amazon has ever seen. Some say prices on mattresses and outdoor furniture may go lower around Labor Day, toys see their biggest price cuts on Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday, and TVs typically reach their lowest prices before Super Bowl Sunday.

Even Amazon is outdoing its own Prime Day, with a second sales event now scheduled for the fall , and too many big sales are causing "shopping fatigue" among European and American consumers who don't have much money to begin with.

It is reported that Amazon has mobilized sellers to participate in the Prime Fall Promotion. Amazon said that by submitting recommended flash sales, there is a chance that the promotion will be selected to participate in this event. Sellers can submit recommended flash sales for this event. The submission time is until 11:59 pm (Pacific Time) on July 22, 2022. The FBA warehouse entry deadline for products participating in the Prime Fall Promotion is September 12 (Pacific Time) .

Prime Day brings industry thoughts

No matter how you perform on Prime Day this year , if you want to continue working in this industry, it will be more practical to learn from it rather than be sad all the time.

" For most people, Membership Day is just a process of running along . Membership Day is not a life-saving straw, nor will it provide timely help. Products that do not sell well on normal days will still not sell well on Membership Day . The effort lies in normal times . " An industry insider said that if the sales of the products you operate are not ideal on Membership Day, you should be more cautious when preparing stocks in the second half of the year. You should also slow down the expansion speed and maintain profits based on the current economic conditions.

Every year is difficult and it is true that the volume is getting bigger year by year. It is also true that Amazon can still make money. The most important thing is to find the most suitable way for yourself according to the current situation.