Is a second “Prime Day” coming in October 2021?

For sellers, there are some innovations in the area of returns on Amazon – there will soon be new regulations for returning low-priced products and a new dashboard will shortly be available.

As the newest (and so far smallest) Amazon marketplace, amazon.eg launched in Egypt on September 1, 2021. We are excited to see how the platform will develop in North Africa.

Amazon Updates: Platform

Is a second “Prime Day” coming in October 2021?

There are indications that Amazon is planning another sales event before Black Friday in November. In order to empty the currently overcrowded warehouses, category-specific shopping promotions are likely to take place in October – Amazon has not commented on this. The COVID pandemic has greatly increased demand for certain products, which now occupy valuable space in Amazon warehouses as demand declines. Read more on this in our comment further below.

Submission of Black Friday deals is open

As of the end of August 2021, deals for Amazon’s Black Friday can be submitted. Early Black Friday deals start as early as November 8, 2021, and sales events end with Cyber Monday Week on December 5, 2021. Sellers can submit Lightning Deals, 7 day deals and coupons until October 8. To be available in time for the events, FBA products must arrive at an Amazon warehouse by November 5.

New returns dashboard for sellers

As of October 21, 2021, Amazon’s Seller Central will feature a new returns dashboard. In it sellers will find the most important KPIs for Amazon: the number of approved return requests in the last 24 hours, the number of rejected requests, and the seller’s buyer contact rate due to returns. By means of defined thresholds, merchants are supposed to be able to track their own performance – but presumably the purpose is to allow Amazon to check the sellers here.

Domestic address for returns soon mandatory

On the German, French, Italian, Spanish and British Amazon marketplace, new return regulations for sellers will apply from October 5, 2021. For returns of products under a value of €25 (£20 in the UK), sellers will have to offer a domestic return address if they sell from outside the respective market. If they don’t do so, Amazon will automatically refund the amount at the seller’s expense – without requiring a return of goods.

New scam: Fake reviews via Facebook groups

When it comes to getting positive reviews on Amazon, many retailers remain inventive. Bloomberg has discovered calls for reviews of Amazon products in closed Facebook groups, which were provided free of charge to the testers. What is new about this is that the retailer transfers the money for the order to the tester in advance. No one is obligated to give a positive review, they say – but pressure is built up through personal contact.

Amazon updates: General

Amazon launches marketplace in Egypt

As of Sept. 1, 2021, Egypt has its own Amazon marketplace: the platform Souq.com has been replaced by Amazon.eg. Since July, merchants switched to Amazon’s Seller Central, the FBA seller model is available to them. While there is no Prime service at launch on Amazon’s smallest marketplace to date, delivery is still completed within one day in urban areas like Cairo.

Expansion of the logistics network

Amazon recently announced plans to open eight new logistics locations in Germany by the first half of 2022. This can presumably be interpreted as a reaction to the online giant’s currently tight warehouse capacities. Amazon is also expanding its logistics network in the US and now also delivers “third-party” packages that were not ordered via the platform. The company is thus entering into direct competition with parcel services such as FedEx and UPS.

Amazon will soon sell its own televisions

Starting in October, Amazon will offer its own televisions in the US. There will be two versions: “Amazon Fire TV 4” and “Amazon Fire TV Omni”. The Alexa system is integrated in all devices, whereby the “Omni” devices can only be controlled via the voice assistant. For Amazon, the TVs are presumably primarily about being able to place its own “Prime Video” offer more prominently and thus gain even more subscribers for the advantage program.

Comment: Another Amazon Sales Event?

The fact that Amazon wants to create a new, additional shopping event makes strategic sense for several reasons:

• Added value for the customer: “Customer Centricity” is in Amazon’s DNA. Amazon knows that customers place a lot of value on bargains and attractive product prices.
• Timing: Amazon has a good sense of timing and was thus one of the “Corona winners” early on. The rising infection figures on a global level indicate that from October onwards, many people will probably be at home again and spend more time on Amazon.
• “Bargain mentality” trend: Customers are becoming more accustomed to discounts in e-commerce and developing a stronger “bargain mentality” (e.g., through influencers and their constant promo codes).
• Test & Learn: Amazon likes to experiment around – if the new events are successful, they can be set up on an annual basis. If it doesn’t go according to plan, Amazon can always do away with them and have learned something new at the same time.
• Better inventory management: Category-based sales events allow Amazon to make room in its full warehouses for more “Christmas gift” products.

Bottom line: Amazon has a lot to gain – and almost nothing to lose – with more shopping events. We expect new sales to take place in October.

Remdash: Seller Analysis

With Remdash, you can not only track your basic Buy Box metrics like price, availability, and the owner of a Buy Box at any time – but additionally, our tool offers an in-depth sellers analysis with information such as:

• Who else is selling my product on Amazon?
• For what price is my product being sold by others?
• Which sellers are selling my products with the most significant deviation?

Interested in Remdash?
Just click here and schedule your personal product demonstration with our team.

Top 5 Amazon Keywords

Slowly but surely, we’re heading into fall: In the US and UK, Amazon customers are already starting their Halloween preparations. School and office supplies, the Playstation 5 and “pop it” toys continue to be in demand on most marketplaces.