• by Monique Zapata-Kaufman , Op-Ed Contributor, July 7, 2017

Amazon recently announced its third annual Prime Day to take place on July 11, 2017. What began as a promotional holiday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the e-commerce giant has grown bigger and more successful each year. Last year’s Prime Day was Amazon’s largest sales day in the history of the company; this year it will expand into a total of 13 countries and last an unprecedented 30 hours.

Competition with Amazon aside, data shows that other e-commerce brands were able to capitalize on the hype and leverage the affiliate channel to drive sales increases around Prime Day last year. Advertisers across all categories saw a slight revenue increase on Prime Day.

With July 11 quickly approaching, here are a few ways that affiliate marketers at brands of all sizes can leverage consumer excitement around Prime Day to drive shoppers to their shopping cart this summer.

1)  Run heavy promos after Prime Day: Last year advertisers saw jumps in sales and traffic in the two days leading up to Amazon Prime Day. While you could try your luck at competing with other pre-Prime Day offers, I suggest running heavy promos after Prime Day to seize shoppers who are lingering.

2)  Big brands might try to directly compete: Last year Walmart directly competed with Amazon Prime Day by lowering Prices and offering a free 30-day trial on ShippingPass, their version of Prime. Walmart also launched a month-long "Rollbacks" promotion on July 1, and announced free shipping on all online orders through July 15. If you think your brand has what it takes to run with the big guns, shoppers may be willing to diversify their spend if the offers are compelling.

3)  Adapt successful offers to the summer season: If your brand had successful holiday offers or promos from other times of the year, use them again, but cater them to summer seasonal merchandise.

4)  Play up shipping deals: Online shoppers expect shorter delivery windows at no extra cost. With Prime offering one-, two-, and sometimes same-day shipping, this is a promotional area that must not be overlooked.

5)  Leverage what you have that Amazon doesn’t such as in-store offers. Since Amazon doesn’t have brick and mortar stores at scale, and your brand does, use it to your advantage. Leverage performance marketing to drive in-store offers that give shoppers similar satisfaction of same-day delivery.

If you have unique products that Amazon does not offer, use it to your benefit. Showcase those and combine them with margin-neutral promotions. Offer cash back and incentives. Collaborate with your loyalty partners to increase cash back or incentive levels. These offers can be more valuable to shoppers than a good bargain.

From whatever angle it is that you approach this opportunity, all signs point to a Prime Day 2017 that will be even more successful than last year. Be ready to capitalize on the frenzy Amazon created to drive shoppers to your shopping cart.