• by Ed Thomas , Op-Ed Contributor, July 12, 2016

Q: What do a wooden watch, some boutique baby clothing and a Segway have in common?

A: Not much. No, wait … all on record discount at the Second Amazon Prime Day.

That’s right, Today, July 12, marks the return of Amazon Prime Day. Also known as the Mega One Day Summer Sale of Awesomeness (mainly only here at our firm, admittedly), Prime Day is aiming high in 2016, maybe even higher than Amazon’s other blockbuster, Black Friday.

With thousands of Lightning Deals to be announced throughout the day, the whole retail world will be looking on to see if Prime Day 2016 is an even bigger deal than last year. With nearly 35 million items ordered last year, an average of 398 orders per second, it certainly has its work cut out. 2016 promises a more varied day of deals; with twice as many sellers and small businesses taking part, they’ll be making up 30% of the Lightning Deals.  

What we’ll see out of July 12 will only help marketers and advertisers gain more insights on what these mega shoppers are trending towards in their purchase habits for the rest of the year.

Bigger than Black Friday

The offers are only available to Amazon Prime members, of course, who pay the yearly $99 fee for express deliveries and access to streaming video and music services. But, remember, anyone can sign up for a risk-free month’s trial (and many did this time last year, in the “hundreds of thousands” apparently.) In fact, the day itself looks like it’s becoming another regular benefit, keeping Amazon's subscription offer sticky as superglue.

And it’s not a great surprise Amazon should be focusing on growing Prime, either, when it has claimed members spend twice as much as non-members. Don’t forget that last year’s Prime Day sales outstripped even its biggest ever Black Friday. Hey, presto, a big spike in sales in an otherwise quiet sales season. In short, it turns out the “limited to members” thing isn’t really that limiting at all. And it should be a boon for marketers, in terms of the data and insights gained from such a major shopping event. The best tip for marketers wanting to take advantage of Prime Day's popularity is to look at what worked last year to get an indication of whether this kind of flagship lightning sale tactic, largely focussed on smaller-ticket items, would be profitable for your business.

Hallmark Holidays

It used to be companies like Hallmark that launched holidays and celebrations, allegedly including such unlikely events as Sweetest Day (whatever that is) or even Boss’s Day (wonder why that never took off?).

And from greeting card companies, it’s now retailers who hold the power to launch events that impact all our calendars. Alibaba for one, whose Singles Day in China made more than $14 billion in 2015, a 60% increase on the previous year. And now also Amazon, whose Prime Day by one account already hit the fourth-biggest retail event in its very first year.

As Amazon moves into more and different areas in years to come, would you bet against an annual Prime Day becoming a yearly fixture alongside in all our calendars, on big screens and small?