Prime Day is one of the most relevant dates of the year for SMEs that are within Amazon. In 2020, small entrepreneurs sold 3.5 billion dollars worldwide and the company expects that this year (June 21 and 22) similar figures will be reached, even as people have returned to physical stores after the lockdown.
According to Gloria Canales, marketing leader at Amazon, “last year there was an ecommerce boom,” which also influenced the adoption of their platform as a point of sale. “In 2020 we added 30% of new SMEs that market through the platform. We hope that this year will be the same or more successful than last year, ”he said in an interview.
The person also responsible for Prime Day in Mexico highlighted that during the period of greatest growth for SMEs, the relationship did not only imply being a point of sale, since they also trained about 17,000 enterprises so that their process of incorporation into electronic commerce was more easy.
On this subject, Renata Arvizu, marketplace director at Amazon Mexico, said that “the success of SMEs is the success of Amazon.” For this reason, training services for companies are complemented with contributions in terms of operation and logistics, which is one of the most fragile points of SMEs, so that these companies “focus on the development of their brands” .
It is worth mentioning that the growth in sales during Prime Day last year represented an increase of 60% compared to 2019, according to Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon Worldwide Consumer. Therefore, Canales a Expansión revealed, “this year during Prime Day, 100 million dollars will be invested to boost small and medium businesses during the event. They are an engine for the company ”.
An example of this situation, Canales cited, is Armario Jewelry, by Mexican designer Paulina Vargas, which sold seven times more during Prime Day than on regular days or By México, by Regina Velasco, whose online sales reached the 80% and even managed to expand to the United States.
This is how SMEs can take advantage of Prime Day
Gloria Canales also highlighted that in Mexico, during this period SMEs will be able to take advantage of some marketplaces focused on their products, such as Handmade, Made in Mexico and Mexican Brands.
“These pages are focused on giving visibility to Mexican artisans and entrepreneurs who want to reach all corners of the country or even the United States,” said Arvizu, who also highlighted the Shark Tank Mexico store.
On the other hand, Canales advised that during this period, SMEs should generate effective descriptions for their catalogs, that is, that they have the most relevant details of the product, such as the type of materials they use, the sizes or measurements, since that “is information customers take a lot into account when making a purchase ”.
The second piece of advice that the specialist provided is to always take inventory availability into account. “In this sense, from Amazon we help to make the correct projections, so that they can estimate their level of sales and make sure they have the right inventory to cover their needs,” he said.
Finally, he suggested that businesses identify the products that could be most successful during the event. In this regard, he pointed out that the categories that have been identified as the most sought after are electronics (screens, video games, household items) and fashion (watches, clothing).
Another example of the relationship between Amazon and SMEs occurred last week, when the company launched the IP Accelerator (Intellectual Property Accelerator) program, which makes it easier and more profitable for these companies to register and obtain protection for their brands, and thus do against counterfeit products, both in the Amazon store and in the wider market.
This program, detailed the e-commerce giant, connects businesses with a network of lawyers to help them with key services, which allows SMEs to access general advice on intellectual property in a simple way at a reduced price.
