Client Letters: Prime Day + eCommerce Price Increases + Antitrust
Prime Day Countdown Begins
Let the games begin! Prime Day will officially take place on July 12th and 13th. In 2021, Prime Day was in June which differed from 2020’s event taking place in October. Amazon has also quietly announced an event in October to kickstart Q4.
Although we believe Prime Day is a “flash in the pan” event, we still believe the event is worthwhile for clearance and launch items. Knowing that Amazon and most retailers are overstocked, we are confident that Amazon will use this event to provide preferential slotting to items that are sold to Amazon under Vendor Central 1P. Please keep this in mind as the event plays out.
As in years past, we are available prior to event start and throughout the event as we closely monitor sales rankings for your top products.
Online Price Increases by Category
Adobe recently published its findings for the year-over-year price increases within eCommerce. Groceries saw the largest overall gain at nearly 12%. Other key categories such as apparel are up over 9% versus a historical decrease of 1% from 2015 to 2019. Categories such as toys and electronics saw negative year-over-year price changes.
These findings are generally consistent with the price changes we are seeing on marketplaces. Those categories with major increases are seeing sales increases on lower unit volume while categories with decreases are seeing sales decreases on lower unit volume.
EU Antitrust Outcome
We believe the recent EU antitrust case against Amazon provides insight to potential outcomes if and when the NA market sees eventual charges: 1) more data for sellers; 2) a SECOND Buy Box showcasing product that is not “Amazon branded.”
Lastly, some other news bites that caught our attention this week:
Bing releases marketplace to complete with Google Shopping. Link
Walmart.com checkout now available via Roku Pay. Link
Long Beach strike unlikely even if deal not reached by July 1. Link
Hope everyone is enjoying the summer and thank you for reading,
Ryan Craver
Disclosure: Client Letters are intended for Commerce Canal clients, investors and employees. Commerce Canal and its officers, directors and employees provide this content for informational purposes only.
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