In the context of the booming e-commerce industry, July is like a grand promotional carnival for US sales platforms. Numerous platforms have made great efforts to launch various promotional activities, attracting consumers' attention and bringing unlimited business opportunities to sellers.
Amazon Prime Day: Scale and Influence Reach New Heights
As a global e-commerce giant, Amazon's Prime Day is undoubtedly the focus of US sales platforms in July. This year, Amazon extended Prime Day from the traditional two days to four days, running from July 8th to 11th. This move not only provides Prime members with more ample shopping time but also greatly expands the sales space. According to Adobe Analytics estimates, during this Prime Day, online sales of US retailers soared to $24.1 billion, a significant year-on-year increase of 30.3%, far exceeding the previous forecast of 28.4%.
In terms of promotional products, Amazon has put forward stricter requirements for products participating in the event. Since June 15th, products with high return rates or prices higher than those on other platforms will be excluded from promotional activities. This regulation aims to ensure that consumers can purchase cost-effective and high-quality products during Prime Day, further enhancing their shopping experience. For example, in the electronics field, consumers can buy new smart speakers, tablets and other products at more favorable prices, and these products have strict guarantees in terms of quality and after-sales service.
From the perspective of sales data, several categories performed brilliantly. The average daily sales of children's clothing increased by 250% compared with June, household safety products by 185%, and school supplies by 175%. The average daily sales of categories such as refrigerators and freezers, games, and headphones all increased by more than 100% month-on-month. The popularity of these categories is related to the demand for the back-to-school peak on the one hand, and on the other hand, it also reflects consumers' attention to improving the quality of life and entertainment needs in promotional activities.
In addition, Amazon has made full preparations for Prime Day in terms of logistics and customer service. By optimizing the logistics network and improving delivery efficiency, it ensures that consumers can receive their purchased goods as soon as possible. At the same time, it strengthens the training of the customer service team to promptly respond to consumers' inquiries and after-sales problems, providing consumers with comprehensive and high-quality services.
Fierce Competition from Other Platforms: Joining Hands with Amazon to Spark a Shopping Boom
Faced with the strong influence of Amazon Prime Day, other US sales platforms are not to be outdone. They have launched various distinctive promotional activities to compete fiercely with Amazon, jointly promoting the prosperity of the US e-commerce market in July.
Walmart launched a 6-day summer promotion starting from July 8th, extending its competitive "Walmart Deals" from four days last year to six days. In terms of advertising investment, sellers have actively deployed, and the average daily advertising expenditure during the event increased by 19.9% compared with other times in July. In terms of popular categories, categories such as "Home" and "Patio & Garden" have received a lot of advertising investment. These categories focus on family-related and seasonal products, which are in line with consumers' preferences and needs in summer. In addition, Walmart has worked closely with suppliers to optimize the supply chain, ensuring sufficient supply of goods and price advantages, providing consumers with a wide range of choices.
TikTok Shop US's "Deals For Your Days" ran from July 7th to 19th. Through short videos and live streaming, it achieved significant GMV growth in categories such as beauty and home furnishing. Its unique "interest e-commerce" model can accurately capture consumers' interests, providing small and medium-sized sellers with opportunities for rapid cold start. During the promotional activities, many internet celebrities actively participated, attracting a large number of consumers to place orders through vivid and interesting displays and recommendations.
Target's "Circle Week" event ran from July 6th to 12th, performing actively in back-to-school shopping. It attracted many family consumers through strategies such as teacher discounts and maintaining 2024 pricing for "back-to-school items". The platform focuses on creating a unique shopping experience, with careful design in store layout and product display, making consumers feel convenient and comfortable during shopping. In addition, Kohl's launched the "Summer Sale" from July 8th to 14th, focusing on discount offers for clothing, shoes, and home goods. By cooperating with well-known brands to launch exclusive co-branded products and offering membership-exclusive discounts, it attracted a large number of housewives and young fashion consumers. During the event, Kohl's also provided online shopping with in-store pickup service, further enhancing the convenience and flexibility of consumers' shopping. Macy's launched the "Summer Sale" from July 7th to 13th, focusing on categories such as clothing, beauty, and home furnishing, attracting consumers through methods such as full reduction offers and membership-exclusive discounts. During the event, Macy's also carried out synchronous experience activities in offline stores, linking online and offline to bring consumers a diversified shopping experience, further enhancing brand influence and market competitiveness.
Best Buy resumed its "July Black Friday" event from July 7th to 13th, focusing on the electronics field, providing consumers with preferential discounts on many popular electronic products to meet consumers' demand for digital products.
Platform Policies and Market Trends: Shaping a New Pattern of Industry Development
A series of developments on US sales platforms in July not only showed the splendor of promotional activities but also reflected important changes in platform policies and market trends. These changes will profoundly affect the future development pattern of the e-commerce industry.
In terms of platform policies, Amazon has adjusted its Fulfillment by Merchant Prime (SFP) policy. Starting from June 29th, new sellers will only have 3 trial opportunities per year, and each trial must be 30 days apart. Existing sellers must complete 100 SFP orders per month; otherwise, the daily Prime order volume will be restricted. This policy adjustment aims to improve the service quality and stability of sellers, ensuring that consumers can enjoy high-quality delivery services. At the same time, starting from July 28th, when sellers create or update self-fulfilled battery products, they must complete a safety compliance questionnaire; otherwise, the product listing may be deactivated, further strengthening the management of product safety.
In addition, Amazon US officially implemented a new policy against the sale of stolen goods starting from June 30th, requiring sellers to establish a traceable compliant supply chain system, covering tax certificates, supplier qualifications, brand authorization, logistics documents, procurement agreements, and inventory records. If sellers cannot prove the compliance of the product supply chain, the platform will take sanctions such as product removal, account suspension, and fund freezing. The implementation of this policy is of great significance for purifying the e-commerce market environment and protecting consumers' rights and interests.
From the perspective of market trends, as consumers' requirements for shopping experience continue to increase, personalized and convenient shopping services will become the key to platform competition. For example, more and more consumers hope to receive personalized recommendations and customized services during shopping. Platforms need to use big data and artificial intelligence technologies to in-depth analyze consumers' behaviors and preferences, providing them with accurate product recommendations and high-quality service experiences.
At the same time, the concept of environmental protection and sustainable development has gradually penetrated into the e-commerce industry. When purchasing products, consumers are increasingly inclined to choose environmentally friendly and sustainable products. Therefore, platforms and sellers need to pay attention to this trend, actively promote environmentally friendly products, use environmentally friendly packaging, and practice the concept of sustainable development.
In addition, the rise of social commerce has brought new opportunities and challenges to the e-commerce industry. Like TikTok Shop, through short videos and live streaming, it has successfully attracted a large number of young consumers. In the future, social commerce will continue to maintain a rapid development trend. Platforms need to constantly innovate the gameplay and models of social commerce, strengthen integration with social media, and improve user participation and shopping conversion rates.
US sales platforms in July showed strong vitality and competitiveness driven by promotional activities. Whether it is the continued popularity of Amazon Prime Day or the active competition of other platforms, they have brought consumers a wealth of shopping choices and benefits. At the same time, changes in platform policies and market trends have also pointed out the future development direction for sellers. In the future development of e-commerce, platforms and sellers need to constantly adapt to changes and innovate to gain a foothold in the fierce market competition.
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