Retailers: Don’t Believe the Amazon Prime Day Hype! The “deals” aren’t what they seem, and some merchants are fighting back
[Irvine, California]—It’s that time of year again when the well-trained masses flock to Amazon by the tens of millions, looking to scoop up a “bargain” or two for Prime Day. They unknowingly fill the online megaretailer’s coffers while choking the life out of small merchants who depend on the platform.
WATCH: Is Amazon’s Prime Day still ‘Prime’?
Prime Day is at best a gimmick, at worst a marketing hoax.
Only subscribers of Amazon’s paid “Prime” membership have access to the 48-hour online shopping marathon, unlucky souls who pay a monthly fee for the privilege of giving Amazon more money.
Among consumers, Prime Day’s restricted access and artificially short duration Stokes Fear of Missing Out (or “FOMO”), a form of anxiety that manifests when people fear an opportunity might be passing them by. It’s a potent bit of psychological manipulation Amazon wields like a weapon. Retailers also experience FOMO, giving already slender profit margins to sell on Amazon’s Marketplace platform and away from their doors.
Amazon’s purpose for Prime Day is to move Prime memberships, collect customer data, and promote Amazon’s private-label merchandise. The profits from these far eclipse any marginal bump in revenue it sees during Prime Day itself. How many of the so-called “deals” aren’t deals at all?
ScanMyPhotos.com is offering a free photo scanning deal that’s better than anything you’ll find on Amazon’s Prime Day. The company is encouraging other retailers to push back against Amazon’s dominance by offering their own discounts coinciding with Prime Day, a silent protest by David to Amazon’s Goliath.
Gizmodo called Prime Day “The Internet’s Worst Garage Sale.” As they point out, most discounts are only a few dollars off the regular price, and many sellers artificially inflate their prices ahead of Prime Day so the “discount” looks comparatively larger.
Once Amazon has its Prime hooks in you, you’re trapped in a vicious cycle of spending money within their closed retail ecosystem, a dependency that only deepens the longer you’re in it.
According to Gizmodo, this year Amazon is offering a $10 credit for every $10 you spend on Prime Day, but if you read the fine print, you’ll see the credit is essentially worthless, and not usable on things like video downloads, e-books, digital music, Amazon gift cards, Prime memberships or Prime Now orders.
To break this cycle, smaller retailers need to beat Amazon at its own game, leveraging Prime Day’s occasion to offer deals that Amazon would never offer.
A new retail revolution is possible, and it starts with revealing Prime Day for what it is: a marketing ploy concocted by a giant corporation to strengthen its stranglehold on retail at large.
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