Amazon Prime Day 2019 has arrived. Tamebay spoke to industry experts to put together some top tips for retailers looking to capitalise on increased demand.
John Squire, CEO and co-Founder, DynamicAction
While online retail continues to grow, retailers need to completely understand the higher costs of servicing consumers in this channel; with basket sizes and average order values dropping in the first half of the year, and returns and free shipping offers increasing, industry profits are evaporating quickly.
To remain in the industry, retailers need to carefully consider their customer acquisition, loyalty and retention strategies before choosing to chase Amazon down the customer-expectation rabbit hole. Rather than offering more discounts and deals to any and all consumers, retailers need to focus on investing in the most profitable customers.
By deploying customer-centric tactics based on deal and customer profitability, retailers can ensure their business is viable and set for growth for the remainder of the year, instead of spending to chase the one-off customers that are simply unprofitable to start and are a constant drag on the business into the future.
Michael Reitblat, Co-founder and CEO of Forter
Amazon’s Prime Day is a global shopping event for consumers, and this year more than ever, we’re seeing other merchants such as eBay, countering Prime Day and offering their own deals. More than 250 other retailers are looking to capitalise on the shopping traffic, with a 79% revenue lift expected.
While consumers will enjoy discounts over the shopping sales period, retailers need to make sure these initiatives aren’t exposing them to a greater risk of fraud abuse. The higher number of purchases made as a result of initiatives such as Amazon Prime Day, and associated perks like free shipping and returns, create vulnerabilities that can be exploited by bad actors. An increasingly common form of fraud attack includes account takeovers, where criminals use stolen account details to make purchases without the owner’s knowledge, as well as returns abuse – especially important considering Amazon saw a 30% higher rate of return over the period in 2018.
Improving the speed and accuracy of fraud detection helps merchants in these fast-paced online shopping environments. Due to its scale, Amazon is able to utilise its insights from repeat consumer purchases to detect changes in behaviour, to verify ‘good customers’ and minimise the money spent on chargebacks. Forter verifies over $100 billion in transactions a year, so while other merchants won’t be able to individually compete with Amazon’s volume of data for fraud detection, they can benefit from Forter’s global network of combined fraud-based insights.
Reducing the risk of fraud does not need to impact on deal days or the ability to provide a seamless customer experience. Identity-based, automated anti-fraud solutions can rapidly build a profile of users to spot criminal activity, and act to prevent it, at any stage of the purchase journey with a high degree of accuracy. This avoids bottlenecks at the checkout stage, ensuring a friction-free experience for customers and fraud-free business for all retailers during key sales periods.
Lindsay McEwan, VP and Managing Director EMEA, Tealium
With Prime Day growing every year, moving towards the prominence of wider reaching discount events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the value it can bring to the entire retail industry is significant.
The now two-day event can be daunting for smaller retailers who lack the many assets Amazon replies upon to support its striking success. But with huge numbers of customers in the mindset to buy, the opportunity for other businesses to drive value from Prime Day shoppers should not be overlooked.
But retailers need to be smart to gain and retain these customers. With Amazon delivering discounts and selection many others can’t match, and numerous retailers such as Currys PC World offering competing discounts, the key to success is in customer experience, making the implementation of a strong customer data strategy vital. Using efficient and effective customer data management tools to deliver a tailored experience to each individual, provide them with deals they are truly relevant, and offer a seamless service will ultimately result in customer retention and increased company revenue, making a focus on their own Amazon Prime Day rewarding.
