It is learned that air freight prices have skyrocketed recently, and some air freight rates have exceeded 50/kg. Some freight forwarders also stated that the rising trend of air delivery prices may continue for a long time, and sellers may face a new round of freight price increases in April.

▲ The picture comes from the seller communication group

Under the dual pressure of Amazon’s various policies and rising shipping costs, sellers’ happiness has been “squeezed out”.

But fortunately, there is still hope in life. Recently, there is news about the Membership Day that sellers are most concerned about.

Prime Day may return to normal schedule

According to Amazon officials, Amazon Prime Day will resume its normal schedule in mid-July this year. Last year, due to supply chain problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon had to postpone Prime Day to October.

We have learned that in recent weeks, Amazon has been inviting sellers to join this year's Prime Day and has issued notices of deadlines for submitting special promotions and shipping inventory.

Amazon did not disclose the exact date of Prime Day, but told U.S. suppliers and first-party wholesalers to prepare to submit Prime Day promotions by April 23 and to ship Prime Day inventory to Amazon warehouses by May 20.

In an email to sellers, Amazon said it was moving forward with plans for Prime Day in July because its supply chain issues have largely eased in recent months. One of the emails said: Prime Day is coming soon, and this year, Amazon will offer extensive marketing on Prime Day, which is likely to drive customers and transactions.

In addition, it is reported that Amazon has made significant improvements in operations, logistics, and back-end services during the pandemic, quickly restoring its shipping capacity and continuing to expand its scale to meet the needs of business growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has enabled this year's Amazon Prime Day to be held as scheduled. And relevant sources believe that this year's Prime Day will break the sales record of 2020.

For Amazon sellers, Prime Day is the day with the highest traffic and the most orders in a year, so sellers must not miss this great opportunity to boost sales. Now that Amazon has opened applications for various activities on Prime Day, sellers must seize this sales peak and sign up in advance to participate.

Prime Day key submission dates

Previously, Amazon sent relevant emails to sellers and announced some important dates for Prime Day. Sellers can also prepare Prime Day operation plans and strategies in advance based on these dates.

Some key time points for Prime Day event declaration in the US are as follows:

• On March 8, Prime Day promotion submissions were opened on the seller platform, including flash sales and Prime targeted coupons.

• On March 29, exclusive discount submission for Prime members was opened on the seller platform.

• On April 16, Prime Day promotion submissions were closed on Seller Central.

• On May 28, Prime targeted coupon submission was closed on Seller Central.

• The FBA warehousing deadline is May 31st.

It is learned that Amazon UK recently announced that the submission portal for its 2021 Prime Day flash sales and coupon activities is now open, and the relevant submission details have been announced.

UK Prime Day submission time:

• On March 12, Prime Day promotion submission was opened on the seller platform.

• On April 23, submissions for Prime Day flash sales were closed on the seller platform.

• On May 28, Prime targeted coupon submission was closed on Seller Central.

• Note: Sellers can run one flash sale per week.

How to submit flash sales and coupons:

1. Flash sale

Seller Center → Advertising → Flash Deals → Click Create a New Deal → Click Show Products Eligible for Flash Deals → Select the ASIN that says “Prime Day Week”

2. Coupons

Seller Central → Advertising → Coupons → Create a new coupon campaign.

3. Requirements for reporting flash sale products

• The sale price is at least 20% or £50/€50 off the current selling price;

• The prices during Prime Day are the lowest in 2021;

• Promotional products should be rated 3.5 stars or above;

• The product has excellent historical sales performance;

• Product images meet Amazon requirements.

With the improvement of the COVID-19 epidemic and the recovery of Amazon's operations and logistics capabilities, this year's Prime Day is likely to be held as scheduled, so sellers can also prepare in advance and not miss this wave of traffic peak.