Amazon has announced to sellers that it's time to prepare for Prime Day 2023, without revealing the dates for the annual shopping event, which is expected to take place in July. Last year, Amazon held a second Prime Day event in October called the "Prime Early Access Sale.”
Amazon advised sellers to prepare early and have enough inventory for their deals.
- To participate, sellers need to create their Prime Day deals before April 28, 2023.
- Sellers must deliver inventory to Amazon's US fulfillment centers by June 15, 2023, with early shipping recommended to account for possible logistics, weather, customs, or carrier issues.
Amazon has shared resources on how to prepare for and drive sales through its ad program during Prime Day. The full announcement can be found on the Amazon seller announcement board.
Amazon's Prime Day and related sales events in 2022. Prime Day took place on July 12-13, but early deals and member-only offers began on June 21. Amazon also held the "Prime Early Access Sale" on October 11-12.
The National Retail Federation predicts that online and non-store sales will increase by 10-12% this year, reaching a range of $1.41 trillion to $1.43 trillion.
Non-store sales mostly occur online, but can also be made through call centers, catalogs, door-to-door visits, and vending machines.
The National Retail Federation's annual forecast, which is seen as an early indicator of how e-commerce is expected to perform in the coming months, despite not aligning perfectly with pure e-commerce figures.
According to a Digital Commerce 360 analysis of U.S. Department of Commerce figures, U.S. e-commerce sales reached $1.03 trillion in 2022, marking the first time annual e-commerce revenue has exceeded $1 trillion.
The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts that total retail sales, including brick-and-mortar, online, and non-store sales, will grow between 4% and 6% in 2023, reaching $5.13 trillion to $5.23 trillion. This forecast is higher than the pre-pandemic average annual retail sales growth rate of 3.6%.
A survey conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Catchpoint shows that 40% of retail and consumer brands suffer customer-impacting disruptions, costing up to $1 million per month.
Internet disruptions have resulted in lost revenue for 61% of respondents, while 64% report damage to their brand's reputation.
The survey also highlights the importance of identifying and resolving internet disruptions, as even small disruptions can cause customers to halt their purchase cycle. Only 29% of companies monitor the full 'internet stack', resulting in an average of 76 disruptions per month due to inadequate visibility.
According to a recent survey, 61% of respondents feel they need tools to quickly anticipate, detect, and fix internet performance problems. Additionally, 74% say customers have little tolerance for disrupted experiences, and 71% say employees expect the same frictionless digital experiences as customers.
