Prime Day 2025: Are Brands Scaling Back? (3 Reasons To Reconsider)

Retail Media Breakfast Club: Prime Day 2025 Participation TrendsIn today's episode, I dive into the results of my recent LinkedIn poll about how brands plan to participate in Prime Day 2025. The numbers tell an interesting story: over half (51.79%) of respondents are either scaling back or skipping Prime Day entirely this year - a significant shift from previous years.Poll Results:Going Bigger: 12.50%About the same: 35.7%Scaling back: 37.5%Skipping it: 14.29%Why Brands Are Pulling Back:New tariff costs (and uncertainty) have made discounting financially difficult, especially for 3P sellersAdvertising costs continue rising, with Sponsored Products CPCs up 12% during Prime Day 2024Amazon's fee structure remains at historically high levelsPrime Day 2025 will be the first four-day U.S. event, plus eight weeks of "early deals" - stretching budgets thinThree Cases FOR Prime Day Participation:1. The Hidden Review AdvantageJason Landro from Nectar points out that multiplying units sold during Prime Day can dramatically boost your review rate, providing a rankings boost that lasts long after Prime Day ends.2. The Halo EffectData from Envision Horizons showed that even brands not directly participating in Prime Day saw a 60% sales increase compared to average days, with a 45% increase in Return on Ad Spend despite higher competition.3. Prime Day as a Strategic Product Marketing LaboratoryKatherine McKee suggests using Prime Day strategically for medium-demand products to answer critical questions:Is awareness the main obstacle?Is pricing off?Is the product page set up poorly?Does the product have market fit?Amazon's PerspectiveAmazon claims they're seeing a "strong response from selling partners to Prime Day 2025."Bottom LinePrime Day 2025 requires more strategic thinking than ever. For some, particularly those with China-dependent supply chains, participation may be impossible. For others, focusing on data collection and review generation rather than pure sales volume might still deliver long-term value.The era of automatic, all-in Prime Day participation is ending. Brands are becoming more selective and measured in their approach to Amazon's events.Mentioned in this episode:Jason Landro (Nectar)Katherine McKeeEnvision HorizonsRead the BLOG version of this podcast here