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Case Study

Prime Big Deal Days 2024: Cross-Platform Wins with VENDO

Sep 23, 2024

The Amazon Prime Big Deal Days event (PBDD), held on October 8-9, 2024, provided significant insights into consumer behavior, sales performance, and effective promotional strategies. The event saw strong performance across a variety of product categories, demonstrating the power of discounts, strategic campaign placements, and customer loyalty initiatives. Key learnings from this case study can be used to guide strategy for future promotional events for both Amazon sellers and brands, ensuring maximum return on investment and improved customer acquisition strategies.

Key Highlights

Overall Sales Lift:

  • 3.55x sales lift across the portfolio compared to the September averages (excluding outliers).
  • Sales lift by discount type:
  • 20-25% discounts: 3.7x lift on Day 1 and 3.1x on Day 2.
  • 30-40% discounts: Consistent 4.2x lift across both days.

New vs Repeat Customers:

  • 54% New customers, consistent with the September averages.
  • 46% Repeat customers, consistent with the September averages.

Daily Performance:

  • Day 1: 3.6x lift
  • Day 2: slight dip, settling at a 3.5x lift (slight variations depending on outliers).

Year-Over-Year (YoY) Performance

Overall Sales Lift: 1.3x YoY increase vs. 2023 PBDD.

  • Health & Household: +1.4x YoY increase.
  • Beauty & Personal Care: Decline to 0.8x YoY.

Revenue Baseline Analysis:

  • 5Pre-event vs. post-event revenue (Sept '24 vs. Oct 17–Nov 13 '24) showed a slight lift of 1.03x overall.
  • When comparing post-event vs pre-event, brands with 30-40% discounts during the main event saw the most benefit, with a 7% increase in sales, while brands with 20-25% discounts during the main event showed minimal change (-1%).

Lead-In and Lead-Out Analysis

Lead-In Discounts:

  • Brands with no lead-in discount: 3.2x lift during the main event vs September average.
  • With 10% lead-in discount: 3.9x lift during the main event.

Lead-Out Discounts:

  • The majority of our brands did not run a lead-out discount and saw a 1.06x lift vs Post Event Baselines Sales.
  • Brands with 5%-25% lead-out discounts saw similar results, averaging 1.05x lift on Baseline Sales post event.

Amazon Advertising

Summary

  • % of Total Ad Revenue: 32.4%
  • TACOS: 9.66%
  • ACOS: 29.85%
  • CVR: 27%
  • Budget Recommendations: 50% of expected sales lift (Sales up 6x, budgets up 3x)

Week-Over-Week (WoW) Performance

  • Ad Revenue saw 6.2x lift WoW.
  • % of Revenue driven saw a slight dip but overall held steady.
  • About a 0.9x decrease from 35.8% (Oct 1-2) vs. 32.2% (Fall Prime).

  • CVR, similarly, saw incremental changes, about a 1.2% lift.
  • Increasing from 22% to 27% WoW.

Year-Over-Year (YoY) Performance

  • Ad Revenue up 1.2x YoY or +20%
  • % of Total Revenue: +3.8%
  • TACOS: +13%
  • ACOS: +9.3%
  • CVR: -5%

PBDD 2024 vs. Prime Day 2024

  • Ad Revenue: -38%
  • % of Total Revenue: -3.7%
  • TACOS: +32%
  • ACOS: +37%
  • CVR: -6%

Market Trends and Purchasing Behavior

Market Dynamics:

Deals

  • The abundance of deals across e-commerce platforms has diminished their effectiveness as a primary differentiator.
  • Consumers are now actively compare prices across multiple platforms, including Walmart.com and Target.com
  • Competitive pricing is essential now more than ever, as shoppers increasingly evaluate cross-platform values.
  • Budget Recommendations: 50% of expected sales lift (Sales up 6x, budgets up 3x)

Customer Loyalty

  • Amazon’s focus on “bought again” recommendations and “New and Notable” badging played a central role in retaining customer interest and increasing repeat purchases.

Consumer Shopping Behavior:

  • Early Holiday Shopping: 26% of shoppers were already purchasing holiday gifts, with 87% planning to do so in the coming months.
  • Top Categories: Household Essentials (24%), Health & Wellness (19%), Everyday Goods (30%).
  • Price Comparison: A significant 67% of shoppers compared prices on Walmart, and 49% compared on Target, signaling an increased focus on competitive pricingy.
  • This price sensitivity underscores the need for dynamic pricing strategies and exclusive deals to retain market share.

Page 1 Ranking Campaigns

The goal of Page 1 Ranking Campaigns is to elevate products to the top of Amazon search results for high-value keywords.

VENDO was able to secure top 5 keyword ranking for multiple keywords:

  • protein powder: #5
  • methylated multivitamin: #3
  • men’s grooming: #2

A BCAA supplement powder achieved a 3.35x ROAS on campaign investment.

Successfully jumped from #27 to #2 keyword ranking for hair care product.

External Advertising

Through paid search & social ads (Google, Meta, TikTok), VENDO drove external traffic to Amazon before, during, and after the main event. This year, a suite of third-party tools was leveraged, including PixelMe by Carbon6, to enhance ad performance. PixelMe allows Amazon Attribution sales data to feed directly into Google Ads, allowing Google to optimize for conversions on Amazon rather than just click-based performance. As a result, VENDO saw a 9.6% sales lift during the main event vs. the September daily average.

Driving external traffic to Amazon not only increases sales but also improves profitability through the Amazon Attribution program, which offers a 10% referral fee bonus. Additionally, this program provides brands with detailed insights into off-Amazon marketing performance, tracking sales and conversion metrics and boosting organic keyword rankings for brands to make data-driven decisions to optimize campaigns for better results. VENDO leverages the Amazon Attribution program to maximize data, insights, and sales during peak seasonality and year-round.

Influencer + Affiliate Marketing:

Context:

Performance is driven by securing high-value placements, providing early access to deals through program outreach beginning four weeks in advance, and maintaining momentum with regular follow-ups. These initiatives enhance visibility, improve conversion rates, and create a seamless experience for affiliates that ultimately drives incremental revenue growth.

During PBDD 2024, one brand in the Home & Kitchen category attributed 6% of total sales to the affiliate program. In the Electronics category, another brand generated 7% of total sales from this initiative during the event.

Email + SMS:

Clients that participated in email + SMS Marketing attributed 2.35% of total Prime Day Sales to these efforts.

Category breakdown:

  • Beauty & Personal Care – 1%
  • Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry – 1.96%
  • Grocery & Gourmet Food – 2.64%
  • Health & Household – 3.81%

Brand Store Analysis:

October Overview:

  • Total Brand Store Sales saw a +47% increase month-over-month (MoM).
  • In September, Brand Store Sales declined by 11% MoM, contributing to 7% of total sales.
  • In October, the average Brand Store % of total sales was 8%, exceeding the yearly average of 7%.
  • Health & Household and Home & Kitchen brands saw Brand Store sales attribute 31% of total business sales on average.

Fall Prime Days:

  • Brand Store Sales attributed to 10% of total business sales through VENDO’s Book of Biz, showing only a 1% decrease compared to Summer Prime Day performance.
  • Health & Household brands attributed 57% of their total business sales to Brand Store sales during the main event.
  • Home & Kitchen brand attributed 48% of their total business sales to Brand Store during the main event.

Concluding Insights and Key Takeaways

  • Discount Strategy:
  • Lead-In Discount: While data shows that not running a lead-in discount saw a very similar lift during the main event vs. brands that ran a 10% discount lead-in, we still recommend implementing a lead-in discount. This strategy boosts the Best Seller Ranking (BSR), which helps improve product visibility on search pages, leading to higher click-through rates and, ultimately, more conversions.
  • Main Event: A 30% discount seems to be the sweet spot. This drove nearly 4x sales lift compared to the September average.
  • Lead-Out Discount: The effectiveness of a lead-out discount is more situational. While it showed similar results to not having one, it can be useful in cases of underperformance during the main event or when managing overstock.

  • Advertising Performance:
  • Revenue Contribution: Advertising contributed 32.4% of total revenue, underscoring its critical role in the overall sales strategy. While advertising remains a strong driver of revenue, rising costs and fluctuating conversion rates highlight the need for continuous optimization in ad targeting, creative refreshments, and budget allocation to maintain efficiency and performance.
  • Optimization Opportunities: Rising TACOS (9.66%) and ACOS (29.85%) reflect relatively efficient ad spend, but there's room for optimization to balance costs and returns. CVR (27%) indicates strong ad-to-purchase conversion, showing that ads are effectively reaching the right audience.
  • Year-over-Year Growth: Ad revenue increased 20% YoY, signaling continued growth in ad-driven sales. However, increases in TACOS (+13%) and ACOS (+9.3%) suggest rising ad costs, requiring a closer look at campaign efficiency.

  • New Customer Acquisition: 54% of sales were driven by new customers, highlighting the importance of attracting newcomers.

  • Market Trends: Price comparison became a significant factor, with 67% of shoppers comparing prices on Walmart and 49% on Target, signaling increased price sensitivity.

  • External Traffic & Attribution: Leveraging external advertising, particularly through paid search and social media platforms, boosted sales by 9.6%, demonstrating the value of cross-platform marketing.

  • Brand Store Performance: Brand stores experienced a notable 47% MoM increase in sales, with Health & Household and Home/Kitchen categories seeing the most significant contributions from brand stores.

  • Influencer & Affiliate Marketing: Participation in affiliate programs played a crucial role, contributing 6-7% to sales for certain brands during the event.

  • Customer Loyalty: Amazon’s focus on “bought again” and the “New and Notable” badges helped retain customers and increase repeat purchases.

Prime Big Deal Days 2024 reinforced the importance of strategic discounting, effective advertising, and customer loyalty initiatives in driving sales performance during major events. Complementary efforts—including external marketing and Brand Store optimization—proved equally pivotal, amplifying overall results and shaping best practices for future campaigns. By prioritizing these areas in upcoming tentpole events, brands can establish a clear framework to sustain growth and improve performance across key metrics.