Amazon Prime Day began Monday at 12 a.m. Pacific Time, with the online retailer offering more than 1 million items on sale through Tuesday. While finding a good deal may not be difficult, making sense of the event could be a challenge for some buyers.
Before Amazon started Prime Day in 2015, the most important shopping season was the holidays, notes Marcel Hollerbach, director of marketing for Productsup, which helps retailers link their systems to Amazon and other online retailers. But, he says, Prime Day has now become a shopping event to compete with the end-of-year shopping season, with Amazon using a new consumer preference for “event shopping”.
“That madness we have now twice a year: for Christmas and Prime Day,” he says. “Retailing is more like event shopping or entertainment shopping, and Amazon is taking advantage of that with their Lightning offerings.”
Lightning deals are limited-time deals that Amazon offers until a product runs out on the site. They will be presented during Prime Day, but they are not the only way consumers can buy. The key to successfully navigating sales is knowing what you want to buy and using a handful of tips to track and find these items.
“The most important thing for everyone is to start your plan and think about how you will spend the day and receive the notifications you need,” said Dan Neiweem, co-founder and director of Avionos, a digital marketing and strategy company. “The first day falls on weekdays, so how do you keep track of what you need without interrupting your workday?”
Neiweem, who began planning his strategy the week before Prime Day, said he has made a list of the items he needs and will check the prices of those items during the event. It’s important to focus on what you need to avoid impulse shopping, he points out.
Here are 5 technological tools that can help you solve the mess.
Enable Amazon app notifications
Receiving notifications from Amazon’s mobile app is a key technique for finding the deals you want. To do so, you’ll need to download the app to your mobile phone and also turn on notifications in the app’s main menu. You can find the main menu by looking for the three bars in the upper left corner of the app.
Use Amazon’s mobile app to “look at” items
Most shoppers may be focused on scrolling through sales on their computers, but Amazon’s mobile app has a useful “clock” feature.
This works if you go to the “Today’s Offers” link at the top left of the app menu, then go to the “Next” tab. When you see an offer you want to see, you can click “view this offer” and Amazon will send you a notification when the sale begins. This is useful because you don’t have to continually check site sales.
Check out Amazon’s “snacks”
Amazon says it will warn consumers about “note” deals or early Prime Day deals that are only shown to mobile app users. Amazon says consumers should type “sneak peek” into the app’s search bar and make sure their personalized notifications are turned on.
Install the browser extension for Amazon Assistant
Experts recommend adding the browser extension for Amazon Assistant, which will display an alert showing the number of Prime Day deals, as well as a small window with the best trending deals. It will also alert you when you’re at a competitor’s site if Amazon offers the same product for less.
Use price trackers outside of Amazon
Finally, be sure to take a few minutes to check prices with sources other than Amazon.
“Just because there’s something on sale doesn’t mean it’s a good deal,” said Sara Skirboll, a purchasing and trends expert at RetailMeNot. “Use a price tracker like Keepa or Tracker to see how the price of the product has changed over time.”
Others recommend CamelCamelCamel, another price tracking site. And don’t forget to check prices at rival stores like Target and Walmart because many large retailers will try to attract consumers with prices as low or as low as Amazon, he said.
Stores like Target and Walmart “are trying to figure out how they can disrupt Amazon Prime Day,” Neiweem notes.
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