Despite an uncertain economy, consumers will continue to spend heavily on ecommerce and actively seek deals heading into the holiday season.
“While demand will be strong, the event will be more difficult to plan for than in previous years,” said Andrew Lipsman, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence and author of our recent report “Amazon Prime Day 2020.”
“Since Prime Day’s 2015 debut, Amazon has expanded the scale and spectacle of the event in a mostly predictable fashion,” he said. “The generally incremental changes from year to year gave customers and sellers a better sense of what to expect, with Lightning Deals and heavily discounted Echos and Fire TVs taking center stage. Sellers developed a playbook for their promotions and advertising strategy and could plan their inventory accordingly.”
But the pandemic has thrown everything for a loop. Supply chains are challenged, inventory forecasting is unpredictable, and consumer demand is fluctuating wildly. Amazon’s decision to move Prime Day from mid-July to October has only thrown a bigger wrench into seasonal spending patterns, leaving retailers and sellers awash with uncertainty.
A late March 2020 survey from Profitero found that 37% of digital retailers worldwide felt that their Prime Day 2020 plans were up in the air due to the coronavirus. At the same time, 56% were optimistic that Prime Day would be a winner given the expectation of more consumers shopping online.