Prime Day was a cold reception on the first day! A large number of sellers' listing rankings plummeted?

After months of intense preparations, Amazon Prime Day 2024 will kick off on July 15th, Beijing time.

According to a report by market research firm Numerator, 40% of American households are expected to shop during Prime Day this year. Last year's Prime Day set a record for the highest sales on the first day of the promotion. For this reason, Amazon sellers are hoping to seize the opportunity of explosive sales and soar to the sky.

However, there are always problems during the peak season. During the preparation period for the Member Day, there were constant twists and turns such as scanning numbers, warehouse explosions, and system bugs, which continued to disrupt the preparation rhythm of sellers. In addition, many sellers have recently found that the natural position of category search terms has changed significantly, and the reason behind this may be closely related to Amazon......

The annual Prime Day is here as scheduled. For Amazon sellers, if their products can occupy a high ranking, they will undoubtedly be favored by more promotional traffic.

But just recently, many sellers have discovered that there have been major changes in the natural positions of category search terms, with many Amazon-operated products moving to the front row and high-selling products being squeezed to the middle of the page.

"Usually, Best Seller and Amazon Pick are at the front of the natural positions for the major category words. Recently, products from several self-operated stores have rushed to the first two rows, while the ones with the highest sales have been squeezed out. The same is true for the natural positions on mobile phones. Sold by Amazon usually has low sales. Apart from these, the positions of the remaining products are still in the same order as before and are at the back." said a seller.

Many sellers have reported that since July 9, about a week before Member Day, Amazon has quietly downgraded the BS links of some third-party sellers, while vigorously supporting VC accounts and local brands.

Currently, many BS links in the United States have been downgraded, and all natural positions have been stuck in the lower middle of the homepage, and many VC links have naturally entered the upper middle of the first page or even the top three, while the TOP links with black marks have not been greatly affected.

It is learned that during this period, many sellers' originally high-ranking listings have suffered Waterloo:

“My small category BSR was naturally ranked first for more than half a year, but on the 10th, it suddenly dropped to the bottom of the first page.”

“All the keywords that were stable at 1-1 suddenly dropped to 1-15 and above, and the first 14 were all self-operated + US local accounts.”

"All the top links in the top three positions on our US site suddenly dropped to the middle of the homepage a week before Member Day. The top 10 positions were taken by US local brands and domestic third-party sellers who were originally naturally ranked at the back."

“Those links that were usually at the back of the organic ranking or in the middle have now moved directly to the top five organic rankings. After running the ads for such a long time, the organic order volume has dropped significantly, and the BS ranking has dropped a lot.

According to feedback from sellers, many listings with ratings below four stars and low sales suddenly occupied the front row, while the top links with stable sales and BSR all year round had their original traffic positions squeezed out.

In this regard, some sellers said that only the top 20,000 ABA words will be affected, but the link rankings of keywords ranked 30,000-50,000 have also declined.

Not only that, some sellers have new products stuck in the market, and the new product ads have very few clicks. The CPC needs to be very high to get one or two clicks, and they can't rush up the rankings no matter how hard they try. Even if the rankings have risen, the conversion rate remains stagnant.

Faced with this situation, many sellers choose to increase their advertising budgets to barely maintain sales, but this does not have much effect on keyword rankings.

In response to this, a seller revealed that Amazon actually conducts similar "secret operations" during the annual Prime Day, vigorously supporting its own products and American local brands. It also downgrades the rights of third-party sellers' products. However, in previous years, it only operated on the middle links, but this year, even the top links were not spared.

It is reported that as early as 2021, Amazon had manipulated rankings on the Indian site, favoring its own products and local brands.

However, some sellers speculate that this large-scale ranking change may be due to Amazon's algorithm testing to change the traffic structure. Combined with the small-scale trial of the Cosmo algorithm and the news that the AI ​​shopping assistant Rufus is officially open to mobile users in the United States, it is not impossible.

As all kinds of turmoil continued, Amazon Prime Day 2024 began on July 15th, Beijing time. It is understood that the specific time of the promotion on major sites is as follows:

• Japan Station: July 15 23:00pm~July 17 23:00pm

• Australia Station: July 15 22:00 pm~July 21 22:00 pm

• Germany/France/Netherlands/Italy/Spain: 7/16 6:00 am~7/18 6:00 am

• UK Station: 7/16 7:00 ~ 7/18 07:00 am

• US/Canada: 7/16 15:00 pm~7/18 15:00 pm

• Brazil Station: 7/16 11:00 am~7/22 11:00 am

• Mexico Station: July 16 14:00 pm--July 22 14:00 pm

  
  

As of press time, membership promotions have already begun at sites in Japan, Australia, Europe, and North America.

Looking at the sales situation in the first half of the year, survey data shows that as of the first five months of this year, more than 60% of sellers have seen a decline in revenue and profits, failing to achieve expected sales targets.

According to Adobe Analytics, American consumers spent $12.7 billion during Amazon's Prime Day 2023, a year-on-year increase of 6.1%, setting a record high. For this reason, facing this year's membership promotion, many sellers are gearing up to seize this wave of traffic and achieve a bottom-up rebound.

The first to arrive at the battlefield were sellers on the Japanese and European sites, who started their 2024 Membership Day journey at 11 pm last night and 6 am this morning Beijing time, respectively.

▲ Scan the QR code to join the Prime Day shopping group

"My Japanese site has really been quiet this year, with sales the same as usual."

"I pressed F5 until I was tired but still had no orders. I looked up and found that I was on the European station."

"Another day of zero orders. No movement in Europe. Did you forget to notify the buyers?"

"What's wrong with my European site this year? Neither orders nor ads have exploded. In previous years, there was always an explosion."

"I'm working on the US site now, but I haven't received any orders so far, so I don't get any of the big sales."

"The European station seems to be OK, a little more than usual."

Although it has been a while since the big sale started, many sellers in Japan and Europe are still anxiously waiting and looking forward to a surge in orders. However, judging from the current sales situation, the European site is still in a "quiet" state, and the boosting effect of the big sale has not yet fully exploded.

▲ The picture comes from the seller

Not only that, many sellers also reported that even the advertising was stagnant: "This year's Member Day was nothing special. Orders didn't explode, and neither did advertising. In previous years, at least one of them would explode."

From the point of view of time, the European site promotion started at around 12:00 a.m., and it was already 9:00 a.m. as of press time. However, consumers seemed to lack enthusiasm for the promotion, neither staying up late to buy, nor waking up and immediately going crazy.

▲ The picture comes from the seller

In addition, the situation on the Japanese site is not optimistic either. Another seller said helplessly: "This year's sales on the Japanese site's Member Day are far less than last year. In previous years, the sales on Member Day were 5-6 times the usual. This year, it would be good to have 3 times. This year, the price is lower, the profit is less, and it is more important to recover the funds."

The sellers on the US site followed closely and also encountered a cold response. According to the feedback from sellers, there is generally no significant increase in orders, and the advertising effect is also mediocre. One seller couldn't help but sigh: "I pressed F5 to death, but the order was from 30 minutes ago. Did the member day only notify the sellers?"

▲ The picture comes from the seller

However, it is currently early morning in the Eastern and Pacific time zones of the United States, and many sellers are looking forward to a surge in orders after foreigners wake up.

Overall, the battle of Prime Day has just begun, and everything is possible. The opportunity for explosive sales may not have officially arrived yet. For sellers, they still need to keep a calm mind, do a good job in related operations, avoid operational mistakes such as coupon stacking, and wait for the surge in orders.