The genius of Jeff Bezos has been to create a shopping holiday in the summer, Amazon Prime Day, seemingly out of thin air. It's now extended into 2 days, and the lure of heavily discounted items combined with the ease of 1 click buy has woken up the entire ecommerce ecosystem. Rival retailers like Target and Walmart have rolled out deals of their own at the same time.
The Lure Of The (Prime) Deal
Sales happen all the time, in fact that's why we still get weekly ad circulars in the mail. They do trigger additional shopping activity, but why? A few tactics have made Amazon's Prime Day even more appealing than the average grocery store sale.
Members Only – The exclusivity of the prime club, which is relatively accessible to the middle class at $119/year, still gives a “members only” feel. It comes with a wide set of perks like “free shipping”, free Primenow grocery delivery from Whole Foods stores.
Free and Fast Shipping – Free shipping is quite the illusion, given the membership fee paid and also the fact that shipping fees just end up being baked into product price. You'll notice that for many $10 and under items Amazon products start getting bundled or you will find cheaper at a store where you pickup the goods yourself. Having goods arrive at your doorstep within 1-2 days provides the quick gratification of a seamless shopping experience. As Amazon experiments with drones, that time to delivery is only going to decrease.
Technology – Don't know what to buy? Your searches and shopping patterns have made Amazon's algorithms smart enough to notify you of products you didn't even know you wanted.
Scarcity – The countdown of a 48 hour sale gets the blood going, creating that fear of missing out that might just impair judgement a tiny a bit.
Fun – This year there was even a live streaming concert featuring Taylor Swift!
Globalization – In recent years over 15 countries have participated in Prime Day sales. All you need is an internet connection!
Affiliate Marketing – Amazon has always had one of the most well known affiliate marketing programs, where bloggers, media outlets can recommend products and get a commission off sending buyers to Amazon. Buyers don't even have to buy the specific product that was recommended. Affiliate marketers get a commission based on any product that buyer bought, as long as the buyer last clicked on their affiliate link.
Price Appeal – Not only is there an emotional rush from participating in the sale, but your logical brain enjoys the deals as well. If you were going to buy something anyway, why wouldn't you buy it discounted?
Try Not To Overextend
Let's face it, participating in Amazon Prime Day can be fun and have you checking the site like a shopaholic. It's Black Friday without the crowds, commute + parking, and 5am lines at the door. In the face of mounting pressure to get involved, even the minimalists start asking themselves if they're being smart avoiding the sale.
Keep a shopping list. You can use extensions like Honey or Wikibuy to help you track price moves for the lowest point. It's easy to justify buying something you were planning to purchase anyway. When those lines get blurred, of what you would have bought anyway, that's when you get in trouble.
Prioritize list into Needs, Nice To Have, Gift Items. You might still be price checking or researching items on your “Needs” list, otherwise you would have bought them already.
Do A Sanity Check – Before buying, ask yourself if you were really going to buy this, and if the price decrease has actually justified it.
Online Recommendations Are Just That. Online retailers are going to keep bombarding you with “suggested for you” or “recommended deals” that might make you feel a bit special. A computer algorithm has found these deals for you based on previous shopping patterns, searches, or anything else that's been collected online about you.
Ask your partner to filter deals. My husband tends to steer clear of tracking these sales, and I end up telling him if I think anything would work for him. It's like having a third party checker filter out the noise. Usually the more addicted shopper plays this role though.
Don't Sweat The Deals You Missed. If there was something you missed buying and you missed the window, that twinge of regret could stay with you. For example, both this and last year I've considered trying out Amazon Music, which goes down to $0.99/month for 4 months. Do I really need it? I have Youtube Premium/Music already, so no, I really don't. And I haven't caved yet, though after the sale is over I still think about it. That will probably make me more likely to buy something from them next year, even if it's not Amazon Music. I've been primed.
In The Aftermath
After this year's Prime Day, I feel pretty good about my purchases and mostly importantly about the ways I stopped myself from buying too much. I was almost going to justify buying a white noise machine for the new baby, but checked with my sister in law on how much she used her machine (not much), and thought about what I'd used with my first baby(an app on the Ipad). Spending $30-$50 on another piece of electronics didn't make much sense. I could easily repurpose an old phone as my white noise machine and download any app for a few dollars.