How To Prepare Amazon Prime Day Coupons and Exclusive Deals?

What’s better than Prime Day? Prime Days—plural. As planned, Amazon is holding a second Prime Day event this year on October 10 and 11. As an Amazon seller, you should be happy about the store’s October “Prime Big Deal Days” sale because it means people will start buying holiday gifts even before Black Friday.

Amazon Prime Day started on July 11, 2023, and people around the world bought more than 375 million things. This was the biggest Prime Day event for independent sellers. Some small businesses have raised their daily average sales by over 18 times. 

With another big shopping event coming up soon, Amazon FBA sellers need to be smart about how they make deals and offer plans. 

How to Create Prime Exclusive Discounts

• From Seller Central’s Advertising tab, choose Prime Exclusive Discounts. You can name your deal after clicking “Create Discount.” Pick the month and year to begin with. The date fields will not be available if you are making a Prime Day deal. Discounts for Prime Day will begin at the start of Premiere Day. Simply click “Save” and then “Add Products.”
• Use the Discount share spreadsheet to share a lot of SKUs at once, or use the Add product details page to enter information about up to 30 SKUs at once, including the SKU, discount type, Prime discount, and minimum price.
• Simply click “Submit Products.” These items will be checked to see if they qualify for Prime Exclusive Discounts. You can see on the Review page if a product is prepared to be sent or not. In addition, you’ll get an email with the state of each product you uploaded validation. After clicking “Submit,” the deal will be set up.
• Within a Prime Exclusive Discount, you can include no more than 100 SKUs. You can edit the discount details for the product and republish it if your discount doesn’t meet the requirements.

An Amazon Prime Exclusive Discount doesn’t cost anything to give out. If the normal price of a participating product changes, the discount price will change automatically by the amount or percentage you choose for the Prime Exclusive Discount. 

The discount will not be applied if this leads to a price lower than your minimum reduced price. Regular sales or coupons will be mixed with Prime Exclusive Discounts, so remember your other sales when planning your discounts.

Creating an Amazon Lightning Deal

This is an easy way to make fast deals. One thing you should think about before you do it, though. Categories, star ratings, price percentages, and products that qualify are some of these factors. This is what you need to have before your Amazon gold box deal is accepted to give you a better idea:

• With the help of Amazon Seller Central reporting, you can make sure that your goods have ratings of more than three stars.
• When it comes to your overall star rating, one bad review will not have as much of an effect if you have a lot of good reviews. Getting more good reviews is easy if you set up your emails to customers to stay sent automatically.
• You can’t have both a Lightning Deal and a Prime Exclusive Discount at the same time. The discount will be taken away two hours before the Lightning Deal starts. The discount might not show up again for up to an hour after the Lightning Deal stops.
• To check if your goods are eligible for Lightning Deals, go to Seller Central and click on the Advertising menu. If so, you can pick any eligible object and add information about the deal you want to show off. It lists both the reduced price and the number of units you’re ready to sell at that price.
• Check the Deals screen in Seller Central if you want to show off your product during a sales event coming up, like Prime Day or Black Friday. You can see which events are currently taking deal entries.
• There should be a reduction of at least 20%.
• The items must be in a category that Amazon accepts and be marked as Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA).
• You need to be able to use Prime.
• It is important to offer different versions of a product to improve the chances of a deal being approved.
• The number of items you have in stock should match the minimum deal amount that Amazon sets.

The best price for a flash deal is set by Amazon. It’s not entirely up to you to decide when Amazon lightning deals happen. You can only choose the week, but Amazon tells you what day and time your deal will run. You can also charge a fee to put a product up for a flash deal.

 The fee is paid when the deal goes through. It has nothing to do with how well the deals do. Finally, you can’t have more than one Amazon FBA deal in a row within seven days.

How to Monitor Lighting Deal Submission?

The lightning deal screen lets you keep an eye on the deal’s progress. The screen has many useful tools that can help you keep the deal going well. Among these tools are:

• Points out a mistake that was made when the deal was being set up. You have a chance to fix the mistake.
• Status “needs edits” lets you know which parts of the deal need to be changed.
• The state “under review” means that the deal is on the waiting list and needs Amazon’s OK.
• “Pending” status means that the deal can set requirements and is now looking for a schedule.
• “Upcoming” or “Approved” status means that the deal is set to happen at a certain time and date.
• The state “suppressed” means that the deal you sent doesn’t meet the requirements to be considered. It gives you time to make the changes you need to make before Amazon stops the deal.

 

How to Cancel a Lightning Deal?

There is a way to cancel your flash deal on Amazon if you need to. It’s possible to back out of a deal, even if it’s already in progress. That being said, there are some rules to remember:

• If you stop a deal less than 25 hours before it starts, you will be charged a fee.
• People who cancel at the last minute could be blocked from future deals.
• If you cancel a lot of deals, Amazon FBA may put you on a ban, which will stop you from making lightning deals in the future.

These are the steps you need to take to back out of a deal:

• First, go to the homepage for lightning deals.
• Second, click on the “All” tab.
• Next to the deal you want to cancel, click on View.
• Call off the deal.

When Does Amazon Lightning Deals Start?

You can stay up to date on deals that will be available soon, but Amazon Lightning Deals don’t have a set start time. The section on Amazon’s page called “Upcoming Deals” makes this possible. It’s possible to see deals that will go live in 24 hours in the “upcoming deals” area. Here’s what you need to do to keep an eye on a deal before it ends:

• Start by going to the page for today’s deals.
• Click on the next tab as the second step.
• Third, locate the deal you want to keep an eye on and click “Watch this deal.”
• Make sure the notice is turned on so you can get messages.

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How to Get Items During Amazon Lightning Deals Period

Pick out the thing you want to buy and add it to your cart as soon as the deal starts. To avoid missing out, remember that lightning deals only last for a short time. 

Since you put the thing in your shopping cart, you need to buy it right away. As soon as the time limit runs out, the deal goes to the next person on the line.

People rush to get lightning deals. Joining the waiting for an item can still give you a chance to get a deal that you’re interested in even if it’s not being offered right now. 

You might be able to get the deal if the previous customer doesn’t purchase after clicking on the “Join the Waitlist” tab next to the given deal. To be on the line, however, does not mean that you will buy the deal. Because of all the flash deals, it’s usually Amazon’s second chance.

As long as there are items left in stock or the promotion time ends, each lightning deal is only good for one customer. During Amazon Lightning Deals, two people can’t get the same deal at the same time.

Do Prime Day and Black Friday Lightning Deals differ?

Some important things to keep in mind are that Lightning Deals work differently during Cyber Week (Black Friday and the days after), but they work the same way during Prime Day. In the beginning, it cost more. Aside from that, Prime Day only offers Lightning Deals to members.

There is also more competition between sellers during Prime Day and Cyber Week, which are two of the most anticipated shopping days of the year. 

This means that ads are spending more on target keywords. Because more brands are realizing how much these events can earn in amazon advertising ($10.4 billion in sales over 24 hours on Prime Day in 2020), the costs for these events are growing a lot.

A bigger discount than usual is needed for your Lighting Deal to stand out during Cyber Week or Prime Day. Amazon FBA puts the best deals at the top of the list, especially during popular times. 15% off is not enough, and your deal will get lost in the mix.

Additionally, we suggest that you heavily promote your deal compared to times when it’s not on sale. Your Lightning Deal should be a small part of a much bigger and more thorough marketing plan you should use during Cyber Week and Prime Day. This includes:

• Before the sale, you should be advertising your business, products, and deals.
• Using the most effective advertising methods on the day of the event.
• What you can do to make the most of any increases in organic search placement for your goods after looking at the results.
• A halo impact often surrounds brands in the weeks after a Lightning Deal. This is especially true for Cyber Week and Prime Day offers.

Lightning Deals vs. 7-Day Deals

Along with Lightning Deals and 7-Day Deals, Amazon gives buyers several promotional options. Just what are the differences between them? Let us look into each one.

Lighting Deals

As we already talked about, Lightning Deals are one-time deals (think flash sale) that only last a few hours and are only available to one customer at a time. Although you can pick the week your deal runs, Amazon FBA decides the exact date and time.

7-Day Deals

 Another deal that expires quickly, these last for seven days straight, giving customers more time to see your cheap item(s). Similar to Lightning Deals, you need a skilled seller account to take part in 7-Day Deals.

Although all of these deals can be found on the “Today’s Deals” page, Lightning Deals usually get the best placement on the page and do better because they are only valid for a short time. Consider running both promotions at different times if you’re not sure which one to choose.

Common Challenges with Amazon Lightning Deals

Although Lightning Deals can be very useful for marketers, it’s important to think about any possible problems with the offer before jumping in. Here are a few of the most common problems that people have with Amazon Lightning Deals.

Amazon Rejected Your Lightning Deal

Check again to make sure you filled out all the needed fields during the setup and scheduling process if you see that your Lightning Deal was turned down. If a deal breaks Amazon’s rules, the company can remove it without warning.

 The different states that Amazon FBA gives you during the whole process will help you make sure that your Lightning Deal makes it to the Deals page. You can find these in your Deals Dashboard. 

Occasionally, your Lightning Deal might be turned down with the message “This SKU does not meet the minimum requirements to be part of the Lightning Deal.”

 Reasons why deals are often turned down are product limits. If Amazon raises the minimum quantity after you’ve entered the deal, you will need to change the quantity you are offering.

Additionally, Amazon may turn down a deal if the featured item doesn’t meet the requirements, even if the item was initially shown as being eligible for a Lightning Deal. Products must meet these requirements to be eligible:

• Get at least three stars and a history of sales on Amazon.
• Add as many different options as you can.
• Not be a product that isn’t allowed or that is insulting, embarrassing, or wrong.
• Be able to use Prime in all areas.
• Be in great shape.
• Adhere to the rules for customer reviews of products.
• Follow the rules about pricing and have a good reference price.

If your Lightning Deal is turned down, you might be able to fix it by offering a bigger price, adding more variations, or buying more.

Not only that, but many sellers know that Amazon sometimes gets things wrong. You can contact Seller Support or send an appeal to the Amazon Deals team if you’re sure that your Lightning Deal meets the minimum standards.

Your Lightning Deal’s Time Slot Isn’t Ideal

Although Lightning Deals are a great way to make people feel rushed into buying, Amazon still decides when your deal goes live.

 The deal you’re offering might be shown during busy shopping times or in the middle of the night. Remember that this comes with a chance that you should be ready to accept if you want to try this product.

While the Seller can offer a week for deals, Amazon ultimately decides which date and time works best for them.  What this means is that your deal could last from 2 am to 8 am. Not exactly the best time to sell!

The Halo Effect Is Short-Lived

Amazon FBA advertises a “halo effect” of sales that lasts after the deal ends, but this effect seems to be short-lived at best and nonexistent at worst. 

After looking at 17 items from 4 sellers in 4 categories (Home & Kitchen, Clothing & Accessories, Toys & Games, and Health & Beauty), we discovered that only 5 of them had their BSR (Best Seller Rank or Sales Rank) rise for a long time. The bump usually lasted two to three days before going back to its normal rank.

Inventory Minimums Apply

If your FBA inventory drops below the minimum quantity needed within 25 hours of the deal, you could lose any deal you sent to Amazon that was accepted. If you put in more inventory just for the Lightning Deal, that could be a problem. If the deal doesn’t go as planned, you might end up with too many goods.  

When to Skip Lightning Deals?

There are a lot of reasons why you shouldn’t use Amazon Lightning Deals. Because Amazon sees Lightning Deals as advertising, sellers have to pay to be promoted. Beyond that, the platform needs you to offer discounts of at least 15% on your goods to be accepted. 

The costs of a Lightning Deal might not be worth the extra money you’d make from more sales, depending on how valuable your goods are and how much you normally resell them for.

Make sure you’re ready for the increase in volume, which is another reason to think carefully before running a Lightning Deal. 

It will be bad for your Amazon rating and image if you buy a Lightning Deal and can’t get it delivered on time. You should be ready to boost sales and not make a deal at all if you are not willing to do that.

Are Lightning Deals Worth It?

This is true if you want to get something out of the deal.

• There may be a Lightning Deal that will help you get rid of your remaining stock of an item you want to stop selling or sell off your extra stock.
• It depends on what time of day Amazon FBA runs your deal if your goal is to get more people to see your product. Let’s hope that the deal works when you’re awake!
• That’s because more people will be buying your goods, so you can expect more real reviews.

Any chance to make your goods more visible and get them into the hands of more customers during the holiday shopping season should be thought about. When October comes around, be willing to take deal suggestions. Then, when November and December come around, enjoy some great shopping.

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Wrapping It Up

Amazon’s October Prime Day is a second great chance for sellers to make more sales and get new customers. 

You can do well on this big store’s special day by looking at your sales data, making sure your listings are optimized, setting competitive prices, and using sales (like Lightning Deals and coupons) smartly. Make sure you advertise your deals in several different ways so that you can reach more people.

Get ready for Prime Day with our guide to setting up powerful coupons & deals that stand out in the Amazon marketplace.

Get your Prime Day deals & coupons ready with AMZ One Step