photo_pw/Depositphotos.com
July 21, 2025
How Can Other Retailers Best Capitalize on Amazon Prime Day?
With Amazon Prime Day 2025 squarely in the rear-view mirror, a postmortem of the data points becomes relevant to those who follow the retail business.
According to search and product discovery platform Constructor, competitors left at least some opportunity on the table when it came to best leveraging the interest surrounding Prime Day to their own benefit. Constructor data, as presented by Chain Store Age editor-in-chief Marianne Wilson, suggested that while retailers competing with Amazon did enjoy appreciable spend during their counter-sale events, “There’s still a lot of potential left on the table. Greater awareness could have resulted in an even greater impact.”
“It’s not enough to just run a sale,” said Nate Roy, strategic director of e-commerce innovation at Constructor.
“To maximize effectiveness, you’ve got to let people know it exists. That means using personalized marketing and making sure your site’s search, navigation, and other product discovery tools draw attention to deals and make them easy to find,” Roy added.
Amazon Prime Day Illuminated a Lack of Sales-Related Searches on Competitors’ Sites
One interesting finding from Constructor’s analysis of over 160 million search queries across 100 retail sites during the Prime Day period: There was no notable increase in sales-related searches (e.g. searches for “sale,” “promo,” or “clearance”) throughout, which could prove problematic for retail competitors as they attempt to draw attention away from the retail elephant in the room that is Amazon.
This could indicate that the bulk of online shoppers do not know how to look for parallel promotions through other retail portals, particularly without the algorithmic guidance put forth by Amazon.
Black Friday Shows a Contrast With Amazon Prime Day Data
However, as the data underscored, the same can’t be said for Black Friday — at least last year’s event.
During Black Friday 2024, pulling data from the same set of retailers, Constructor found that promo-related search activity spiked by about 1.5x during the span of the sales event, “signaling shopper expectations around discounts at many different stores” according to the company.
So, then, is the problem technological or operational, when it comes to framing effective counter-sales running adjacent to Amazon’s Prime Day blockbuster event? While the numbers appear to suggest that consumers have no problem searching for deals or promos independently when the event calls for it (in this case, Black Friday), that’s by no means certain.
Given the groundswell of interest in what is shaping up to be an entirely unique sales holiday, it could be vital for retail competitors to answer this question sooner, rather than later, and to execute a plan to best maximize spend from their own audiences.
Discussion Questions
How much potential is being left on table when it comes to counter-sales, given the centrality of Amazon in the instigation of the Prime Day event in and of itself?
As the Amazon Prime Day period becomes a wider sales event across multiple retailers, how can competitors best capitalize?
Will a frictionless and personalized or guided online shopping experience allow retailers to reliably compete with Amazon, or will Amazon itself work harder to push out smaller competitors to further dominance during the span of the event?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Brian Numainville
Principal, The Feedback Group
Georganne Bender
Principal, KIZER & BENDER Speaking
Shep Hyken
Chief Amazement Officer, Shepard Presentations, LLC
Recent Discussions
More Discussions
Has Kroger Discovered the Limits of Automated Warehouses?
Kroger is winding down its relationship with Ocado, citing cost overruns and a reorganization of its…What Can Ross Do To Cement its Recent Success Story?
Ross has seen strong sales and projects this trend to continue. How can it best cement…Is Cyber Week Set To Smash Sales Records This Year, as Salesforce Suggests?
Salesforce suggests that Cyber Week will set records in terms of sales this year. Is this…
Prime Day is Amazon’s Day, but it is no longer just about Amazon. To stop Amazon grabbing too much share, other retailers have jumped on the bandwagon. This is reasonable; and, from our data, it has certainly provided other retailers with sales boosts. That said, retailers need to come up with tactics that work for their customer base – such as deal drops, in store events and so forth. Retailers like Walmart and Target should also use the event to drive signups of their membership programs.
I am making a good salary from home $1400-$2400/week , which is amazing, under a year back I was jobless in a horrible economy. I thank God every day I was blessed with these instructions and now it’s my duty to pay it forward and share it with Everyone,
.
Here is what I do…… https://rb.gy/y4j09o
Amazon’s Prime Day is more than just a big sale at Amazon. It’s about shopping in general. The sale generates consumer interest beyond just Amazon. A sale like this causes price awareness, and some consumers use Amazon’s prices for comparison. In addition, the items on sale can lead to impulse purchases, but not before the consumer compares the prices to other retailers. In short and to use a metaphor, a rising tide (as in Amazon’s huge sale), lifts all ships (other retailers).
You’ve already lost if your fight-back playbook is running a promotion. Amazon uses Prime Day as an ecosystem event, not just a sale. It drives Prime membership, AWS usage, advertising revenue, and third-party seller fees simultaneously. Use Prime Day timing to showcase operational capabilities that Amazon can’t match, such as local same-day delivery, in-store experiences, specialized expertise, or community integration.
The article indicates, to my communication mind, that consumers are entirely focused on “Amazon” as that’s the name whereas Black Friday is a known event across retailers. If a retailers decided there’s added traffic to be gained at that time, they are going to have to promote it — perhaps “Post July 4th Days” or something. That said, retailers should be cautious in that Amazon just may be artificially increasing revenue and losing money in the process — that’s often how sales work. After all, we hear Amazon’s top line numbers but never the bottom line.
Amazon Prime Day is the sale equivalent of grabbing a shopping cart when we enter a grocery store: we have been trained to do it. Or in this case, shop it. That’s right, Amazon has trained consumers to shop on Prime Days. In my business, we have encouraged our indie retail clients to run sales on Prime Days since the first one, and with great success.
This line in the article got me: “There was no notable increase in sales-related searches (e.g. searches for “sale,” “promo,” or “clearance”) throughout, which could prove problematic for retail competitors as they attempt to draw attention away from the retail elephant in the room that is Amazon. This could indicate that the bulk of online shoppers do not know how to look for parallel promotions through other retail portals, particularly without the algorithmic guidance put forth by Amazon.”
Really? Constructor thinks that consumers are unable to search online for deals by themselves? Shaking my head…
There’s no question: Prime Day isn’t just an Amazon spectacle, but it also provides a blueprint for other retailers to take and make their own. As noted, competitors who launched their own “anti‑Prime Day” promotions and retailers who tied in-store and online activations saw real traffic and revenue uplift. Retailers can and should harness the same shopper momentum by putting together their own types of events, activating across email, social, and in-store channels, and deploying offers that draw digital buyers into physical locations. The key is timely promotion, omnichannel coordination, and incentives. By figuring out the best deal timing, messaging, and experience, any retailer can convert Prime Day energy into their own seasonal advantage!
Hmmm? How much potential is being left on the table? The real question is how much money is being left on the table? Let’s take it a step further. “What shopper needs are left on the table?”
Our doormen dread Prime Days. The volume of deliveries is four to five times normal. The delivery room and closets overflow into the lobby. The boxes appear to be all logoed Amazon. It is hard to beleive there is any more potential out there.
Prime Day = market share grab or protection. Amazon grabs so everybody else has to protect. And it costs everybody margin $$$. Christmas in July is a huge win for the consumer, but it feels like a significan expense for everybody else. Is there actual growth happening here, or a shift out of full margin pre-sale and post-sale days into discounted sale days? I’m betting individual retailers and brands know the answer for their own business, but I don’t see this conversation talked about any where…???
Retailers with concurrent sales during the Prime Day period can invest in promoting their own promotions to shift consumers’ habits. Shoppers already know about Cyber November; they need help remembering retailers’ mid-year sales when they’re joyfully distracted by vacations.
This is a retail industry opportunity for collaboration across supply chains. Collectively, retailers are balancing the annual sales calendar so Q4 isn’t so lopsided and stressful.
In the same way every retailer in China and beyond capitalized on SINGLES’ DAY. Promote, promote, promote “National eCommerce Day” onb PRIME DAY. Much in the same way advertisers cannot use SUPER BOWL in their ads if they are not licenses so promote around THE BIG GAME.