4 Tips for Holiday Promotions on Amazon

As we are all very aware by now, you must have a dialed approach when it comes to being successful on Amazon during the Q4 holiday season. Gone are the days of just waiting around for sales to come pouring in because more and more sellers have become better at targeting their audience through Amazon advertising and promotions. Amazon recently announced these 4 tips for holiday promotions and we wanted to throw in a tip or two of our own to help sellers be successful this year.

4 Tips for Holiday Promotions on Amazon

Follow these tips to have your most successful holiday season on Amazon so far!

Amazon tip #1: Use recommended ASINs

The recommendations update weekly, so do not wait to take action if you see a product eligible for Black Friday and Cyber Monday as it might disappear the following week.

Our Advice: Plan ahead! Make sure you know beforehand the products you are willing to promote. We advise going through your catalog and knowing which items you are willing to run promotions on, as well as how big of a discount you want to give. That way when a recommendation comes up, you already know whether it is worth it for your business.

Amazon tip #2: Promote your top products

Running a promotion is an opportunity for you to wow Amazon shoppers. Focus on top products to maximize your growth opportunities during the holiday season.

Our Advice: We love the 80/20 rule when it comes to promotions. 80% of most sellers’ revenue comes from their top 20% of SKUs so make sure you focus on the big hitters! Don’t try to force a product to sell by just running a promotion, promote those products that sell well and watch them climb to even bigger heights!

Amazon tip #3: Use high-quality images

Ensure the image doesn’t include any text, logos, or watermarks that are not a part of the product itself. If a promotion doesn’t follow Amazon’s product image requirements (see Vendor Central or Seller Central for more information) or is not representative of the products within the promotion, the promotion is subject to cancellation.

Our Advice: Images can make or break a listing on Amazon. You need to ask yourself, “Does this image pass the 3-second test?” or in other words, if someone was to just see that image, could they tell what your product is in under 3-seconds? Make sure your images are high resolution, big enough for zoom capabilities and tell the story of your brand. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, well that’s a whole lot of keyword value from a single image so make sure you put in the time to make them worth it!

Amazon tip #4: Improve product detail pages

Inspire Amazon shoppers to purchase your products. Use bullet points, images, and A+ Content to share your brand message and unique product benefits.

Our Advice: This is probably the most important tip of all because if your listing does not convert traffic into sales, it can actually do more harm than good! Amazon wants to see people who visit your page interact with the content and add items to their cart. Make sure that your entire listing is a sales funnel, providing information and selling your product to the people you worked so hard to attract to the page. Focus on features, benefits, and differentiators. What makes your brand/products special? Why should consumers pick you over the hundreds, if not thousands, of other choices on the marketplace?

Bonus Tip: Inventory Forecasting is KEY

Make sure you have the inventory to keep up with a promotion as well as sustain sales after the holidays! Too many times we have seen sellers go all-in on the holidays without enough inventory to keep them selling through Q1 and they lose all the momentum they gained from a big holiday push. Amazon loves to see consistency because it means they can trust you. When you stock out or delay shipping to customers, consumer confidence dwindles and your keyword rankings disappear. What can take weeks or months to build can all be lost in a matter of days if you mismanage your inventory.

Our team has been working with brands on the Amazon marketplace for 10 years now. We have been through a lot of holiday seasons and we know the best tactics to not only win in Q4 but set yourself up for success all year long. Schedule some time to chat with our experts and get a free analysis of your Amazon opportunities.