Last year’s Amazon Prime Day was the biggest Prime Day ever. In the record-breaking event, independent sellers – which are small and medium-sized businesses – sold more than 200 million items during the 48-hour shopping event.
That’s no small feat, given that US customers spent $12.7 billion during the massive two-day sales event in 2023. Independent sellers should be incredibly proud of this enormous win.
In the year of AI, Rufus, Amazon’s new AI-powered conversational shopping assistant, helped millions of customers shop Amazon’s wide selection quickly and easily during the event.
In this article, we’ll run through the real benefits and drawbacks to help you prepare for Amazon Prime Day 2025.
In 2025, while inflation rate eases, tariffs become a hot topic. E-commerce sellers are concerned about profitability more than ever and are rethinking strategies to stay ahead of or mitigate the impact from recent economic changes.
What can you expect for 2025? Do independent sellers still stand to earn big? Let’s dive into the pros and cons of Amazon Prime Day for sellers.
If you’re still on the fence about whether or not to participate in Prime Day, here’s a recap of some potential benefits to consider.
There’s a lot to be gained by participating in Prime Day, but there are also some real costs that come with chasing that Prime Day sales boost.
Because of the massive uptick in web traffic and an even longer sales event that’s newly extended to four days for 2025, many sellers can expect to see increased sales on Prime Day. Offering a deal or discount can put your product front and center and help you earn even more.
On the other hand, selling on Amazon keeps getting more expensive, with inflation costs passed on to third-party sellers in the form of fee hikes, new fees, and increased ad prices – not to mention recent changes to U.S. trade and tariff policies. Plus, with more Amazon sales spread out over the year, consumer fatigue could mean less traffic and fewer views.
If your profit margins are already tight, the costs associated with active participation in Prime Day — like increasing your ad spend, beefing up your inventory, and paying to offer Prime Day exclusive deals — could mean the higher sales volume isn’t worth the expense. Or, it could mean that sellers need to rethink their Prime Day strategies. One example is to scale back on ad budget and instead double down on Lightning Deals, Best Deals, Prime-exclusive discounts, or another special offer to give to customers.
Amazon Seller Central offers a calculator to help e-commerce businesses determine the potential profitability of their business, though there are many other sophisticated analytics tools that can help sellers make an informed decision.
With the right data and approach, participating in Amazon Prime Day can be a great move for your business.
Here are some steps to take to increase your odds of Prime Day success:
With the right expectations and a clear plan for making the most out of Prime Day, you can take advantage of the increased traffic and sales that come from this major shopping event.
Of course, it helps to know exactly what it is you’re getting into. Here are answers to some of the top Amazon Prime Day FAQs for sellers.
Amazon Prime Day is a 48-hour sale event available exclusively to Amazon Prime Members and typically held in July. During the event, Amazon Prime members get access to hundreds of limited-time deals, some of which only last a few hours.
The first Amazon Prime Day was held July 15, 2015 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Amazon.com’s official opening as an online bookstore. The 24-hour event was accessible to Amazon Prime members in the US, UK, Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Canada, and Austria.
At the time, it was the biggest sales day in the company’s history, beating even its 2014 Black Friday numbers. Though some were quite vocal about sold out products and other frustrations, customers still ordered a total of over 34.4 million items.
The first two-day Prime Day event was held in July 2019. In 2020, the pandemic forced Amazon to delay the event until October.
In 2022, Amazon held its regular Prime Day in July, and a second event in October, dubbed the Prime Early Access sale. In 2023, it renamed the event Prime Big Deal Days, and held the sale on October 10 and 11.
From March 25 to 31 this year, the company held its second annual Big Spring Sale, open to Prime and non-Prime subscribers alike. The event was likely conceived to draw in new Prime members and compete with rivals like Shein and Temu.
With increased traffic and the promise of incredible deals, products tend to move fast on Prime Day. Offering a deal, promotion, or coupon, or running sponsored ads can boost your conversion rates even more.
The biggest sellers on Prime Day are typically Amazon smart home products, like Fire TV Sticks, Blink cameras, and Echo devices. In 2024, 3 categories stood out. Electronics sales increased 61% over the two-day event, with tablets having the largest sales growth at 117%. For the home, furniture, and appliances category, small kitchen appliances grew the most at 76%. And for the apparel category, sales of suites had the largest growth at 36% across both event days.
Certain deals on Prime Day are designed to sell out especially fast — sometimes in as little as a few minutes. Lightning Deals, for example, are only offered for a limited number of hours or until stock runs out.
Lightning Deals are promoted on the Prime Day page, upping your odds of getting your storefront noticed by new customers. The fee to offer a Lightning Deal on a regular day is around $150, but on Prime Days it can be as high as $300-500.
If a Lightning Deal isn’t available or isn’t the right option for your business, you can also boost Prime Day sales by offering a Prime Exclusive Discount. These discounts don’t require a fee, but you need to be in good standing with Amazon. Both Lightning Deals and Prime Exclusive Discounts come with their own set of rules and restrictions.
Though growth has slowed somewhat in recent years, Prime Day has historically been a huge revenue booster for Amazon. Prime Day may also benefit Amazon by helping to offload excess inventory and enlist new Prime subscribers.
Other retailers have also benefited from what’s called the Prime Day “halo effect.” Target and Best Buy, for instance, have seen a sales boost from running promotional events around the same time. In 2023, however, retailers made less of an effort to compete with Prime Day and site traffic stats reflected the drop. Also new for 2025 is Walmart’s announcement to run Walmart+ Week, a similar member’s only savings event, much earlier this year from April 28 to May 4.
Prime Members can benefit from lower prices on coveted items and household necessities, but many Amazon customers continue to complain of disappointing or just plain silly deals. If you can offer a discount that feels truly worthwhile for the customer, your store may be poised to stand out from the pack.
But the biggest beneficiary in 2025 may be independent sellers, who make up 60% of Amazon’s total sales. In 2023, third party sellers jumped from only 37% of Prime Day sales to outpacing Amazon itself.
Prime Day can bring increased savings for shoppers depending on which items they’re looking for. Amazon devices sell for deeply discounted prices, accounting for their high share of the sales volume.
Other Prime Day discounts can be hit or miss, and savvy customers may be able to find lower prices on Black Friday, Labor Day, and other big sale periods. Competing July sales from other large retailers may also offer lower prices than Amazon on certain items.
Amazon’s price history is pretty transparent, so it’s easy enough for comparison shoppers to make sure they’re getting a good deal. Sites like Gizmodo and Lifehacker advise shoppers to use price tracking software to double-check deals before buying.
While the vast majority of Prime Day marketplace deals are legitimate, there’s always the potential for bad actors to take advantage. Some unsavory sellers use shady practices to make shoppers think they’re saving, when prices have actually stayed the same or even increased.
If you’re already selling on Amazon, participating in Prime Day isn’t exactly up for debate. You’ll still be there on the big day when that influx of extra traffic hits.
The real question is, how will you use it to your advantage? Whether you choose to create irresistible deals and discounts, or simply stand by and gain from the increased lift in brand awareness, you need to know what to expect and how to plan.
Because the truth is, winning on Amazon doesn’t happen overnight. But with the right playbook, you can make every major shopping event work for you.
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