Big sellers are clearing out inventory at a loss on Prime Day, and small and medium-sized sellers are worrying about the number of orders!

Recently, I often hear sellers sigh: "2021 is so difficult!" Tightened policies, sudden drop in inventory capacity, price wars, declining order volumes...each one of them makes people exhausted.

The two-day Prime Day every year is a traffic feast for sellers, so they also want to reverse the downward trend in the first half of the year through this year's Prime Day.

But according to the information the editor has received so far, this year's Prime Day will bring sellers not only a surge in orders, but also a tough battle.

Big sellers scheduled the real loss-making clearance on Prime Day

The first half of this year was not very friendly to sellers. One seller lamented: "It's too difficult! Everything is booming except orders. Everything is going up except prices."

Especially with Prime Day around the corner, the volume of orders is making sellers want to close their eyes:

"——There have been only a few orders since yesterday.

——The BSR of a product dropped from 900 to 400.

——The order volume is extremely poor. Is this a preparation for my brother-in-law to go to heaven? My brother-in-law goes to heaven, and the orders go to hell?

——The number of orders is so low that I have no interest in work. I have been slacking off since June. ”

I believe many people have the same feeling, that the industry has been "quiet" recently . Some people say that this is the calm before Prime Day. Sellers are holding back their energy, waiting for Prime Day to fight a comeback.

After all, last year's Prime Day results are obvious to all. During Prime Day 2020 , third-party sellers on Amazon had sales of more than $3.5 billion . Prime Day provides sellers with a good opportunity to increase their performance. Sellers who seize the opportunity can almost achieve traffic and sales several times, even dozens or hundreds of times, higher than usual.

According to eMarketer's forecast, Prime Day 2021 will be Amazon's largest to date, with record sales. eMarketer said sales for the event are expected to reach around $12 billion, breaking last year's record of nearly $10 billion.

The data may look good, but what you eat is yours.

I believe that sellers still have a deep understanding of the price war that was launched on Amazon. Not only are new sellers losing money to compete for the market, but top sellers are also slashing prices. Sellers on the platform are forced to get involved in a bloody price war.

What is unexpected is that this price war will have a "sequel".

A seller revealed that the domestic and overseas warehouses of a big-selling product he knew with a GMV of 500 million were overwhelmed. Although their listings with 2,000+ reviews are now selling at a loss, the real big bleeding and clearance are scheduled for Prime Day.

Is this going to roll up again? I don’t need to tell you the answer. I believe that the recent sales situation has given sellers a personal experience.

It is understood that although Prime Day has not yet arrived, the competition has already begun. One seller said that his second-best-selling listing has been out of stock and has been on pre-sale for two days. Not only has the ranking dropped sharply, but the advertising bid has almost doubled the usual amount, but the exposure is less than half of the usual amount. "I'm afraid this is the internal competition of sellers on the eve of Prime Day."

If this is the case, Prime Day will not only become a clearance day, but sellers will also most likely face a bloodier and more severe round of price wars.

Nowadays, sellers have already lowered their selling prices to participate in the big promotion. In this case, the profits are already very slim. If the big sellers sell at a loss on Prime Day, the orders of small and medium-sized sellers will definitely be affected. In this case, their Prime Day performance is worrying. Don't even expect to complete a quarter's sales in two days.

No one is buying even the $5.99 membership. Is the purchasing power of the American people declining?

As Prime Day approaches , sellers are also concerned about the economic situation of the American people.

According to foreign media reports, many states in the United States have ended unemployment benefits ahead of schedule. Currently, 24 states are preparing to stop distributing benefits, including an additional $300 per week. The earliest date for stopping benefits is June 12, and the latest is July 19, but most are in mid-to-late June.

The previous policy was that unemployed American workers could receive a federal subsidy of $300 on top of the average weekly $318 in regular state unemployment benefits, so many young Americans would rather lie down at home than go out to work and risk infection.

But now the situation is beginning to change. The vast majority of states are tightening the distribution of relief funds, and many states have stopped distributing relief funds since June.

Some sellers stated that the lower-class people in the United States have no money anymore, and their actual purchasing power has dropped significantly. Even the $5.99 Prime membership is not popular.

On the one hand, states have gradually stopped issuing relief funds. On the other hand, prices in the United States have risen and inflation has heated up. The consumer price index increased by 5% year-on-year in May, the largest increase in nearly 13 years and higher than market expectations.

According to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 5% in May 2021 from the same period in 2020, higher than the 4.2% in April 2021 and the market expectation of 4.7%, the highest increase since August 2008.

Among them, the price of washing machines and dryers increased by 27%, the price of bicycles increased by 10% (it can be seen that the sales of washing machines, dryers and bicycles in the United States will be quite good) , and the price of natural gas also increased by 56% compared with the same period last year . With the post-epidemic lockdown, people resumed traveling, hotel prices increased by 10% compared with a year ago , and air ticket prices increased by 24%.

According to the Associated Press, Shaden, who lives in New York, found that a box of steak that used to cost only $28-32 now costs $45.

In other words, against the backdrop of rising prices, Americans need to spend more money to buy daily necessities, and the demand for non-essential items is not as urgent, so sellers can also feel the decline in purchasing power of the American people.

Do you expect Prime Day sales to grow this year?

The countdown to Prime Day has begun, and there are still 14 days until the official start of the war.

Before Prime Day starts every year , many sellers begin to estimate that the promotions on that day will increase their sales several times compared to usual. During Prime Day in October last year, the order volume of many sellers increased by more than three times compared to usual. For example, the sales of one big seller reached one million yuan in just two hours.

But people don’t have high expectations for this year’s Prime Day, and many say it’s just for clearing out inventory.

Some sellers said that last year's Prime Day sales increased by 5-6 times, and this year's PD target is still around 5 times.

However, some sellers expressed doubts, because last year's Prime Day happened to be in October, the peak season, so the performance was so good, and due to various reasons such as price wars, warehouse restrictions, and warehouse explosions during this period, sales would not be as good as last year.

Seller A: I'll be thankful once the inventory is cleared.

Seller B: Clearance comes first, sales and other things come second
Seller C: I am waiting for PD to clear the stock...
Seller D: It's another carnival day for big sales. It has nothing to do with me. I was looking forward to more sales on Member Day, but now I don't dare to expect too much growth. 1-2 times is enough.