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
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10:08
Is Retail Media Actually Kinda 'Mid'?
This week I dive into an interesting perspective from Jason Goldberg on the Jason + Scot show, who mentioned this podcast (a proud moment for me as I've been listening to their show for over 7 years!).Jason questioned the excitement around retail media outside of Amazon, so I decided to investigate his claims, including:Most retail media spend goes to Amazon. Retail media is mostly Sponsored Product Ads. Smaller sellers drive most sponsored product spending. Limited opportunity for specialty/regional retailers. Tell me what I missed in my response, and let's get Jason Goldberg excited about retail media!Links:The must-listen Jason + Scot show podcastMy article, "DSPs Wanted: The Retail Media Revolution 96% of Advertisers Crave"Poll: are brands pulling back on Prime Day this year?Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletterFollow Kiri on LinkedIn
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11:17
"We're Not Dabbling Here": Amazon's Official Company Line On AI
I dive into Amazon's earnings call AI announcements and what they mean for retail and ecommerce. Andy Jassy says they're building "a thousand plus AI applications," and I break down the key developments that matter for shopping and retail media.Quick Takes:Amazon's AI Infrastructure Edge I cover Amazon's Nova model reaching "frontier tier" intelligence - now competing with GPT-4 and Claude 3. Plus their 30-40% cost reduction through Trainium 2 chips. This means personalized product descriptions and real-time creative optimization become economically viable at scale.Voice Commerce Gets Serious I explain NovaSonic, Amazon's speech-to-speech model that solves the big problems that killed voice shopping before: better accuracy, natural responses, and conversation memory. This leverages Amazon's existing Alexa user base in millions of homes.Alexa Plus: Shopping Agent I examine how Alexa Plus goes beyond answering questions to taking actions - comparing products, adding to cart, applying coupons, and managing returns. It can already automate household basics with rules like "keep gluten-free cereal stocked, switch brands if price rises 10%."NovaACT: Browser Agent Preview I look at Amazon's research on browser agents that can navigate checkout flows and comparison shop across multiple retailer sites. This could eventually let Amazon capture economics even on off-site purchases through Buy with Prime.I wrap up with practical implications: search will shift to conversational interfaces, shopping agents will make routine purchases automatically, and brands will need to compete for AI recommendation slots - the new "invisible shelf." This isn't future tech - these changes are rolling out now in the US.Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletterFollow Kiri on LinkedInCHAPTERS
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11:25
DSPs Wanted: The Retail Media Revolution 96% of Advertisers Crave
Could DSPs Be Retail Media's Panama Canal?In today's episode, I talk about Koddi's new "State of Programmatic Retail Media" report and why programmatic access might be the key to unlocking retail media's next growth phase.The Current LandscapeToday's retail media dollars are heavily concentrated: 77% on Amazon, 7% on Walmart, and only 16% spread across dozens of other retail networksDespite recognizing retail media's effectiveness (81% agree it's effective), many advertisers find the buying process painfulFragmentation and manual processes are the biggest obstacles to wider adoptionThe Case for More DSP IntegrationsI examine how demand-side platform (DSP) integrations could transform retail media buying:96% of buyers say they would consider buying on-site media via a DSP93% would shift non-retail budgets into retail media if they could buy programmaticallyTop advantages buyers see in DSPs: More cost-efficient buying (67%)Eliminating manual tasks and saving resources (51%)More effective targeting (47%)Retailer ConcernsI discuss why retailers might be hesitant to embrace DSP integration:Fear of commoditizing their proprietary first-party dataConcern about negotiated pricing collapsing when inventory sits alongside other ad offeringsUncertainty about maintaining control over their networkA Middle Path ForwardDespite these concerns, retailers can integrate with DSPs while maintaining control:Setting guardrails around dataPreserving exclusive ad formatsOffering curated deals tailored to their specific audiencesUsing the right supply-side technology to mediate demand safelyBeyond DSP IntegrationWhile programmatic access is important, I point out that it's not a complete solution:Cross-retailer measurement remains a sticky challengeBrands still face inconsistent methodologies across platformsWhat actually unlocks budgets: better outcomes, legibility, and ease of useThe alternative to integration—forcing advertisers to navigate each retail media network separately—is increasingly looking like an unnecessarily difficult journey when a more direct route is possible.Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletterLink to written blog version of today's episodeFollow Kiri on LinkedIn
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10:37
Amazon Q1 Earnings Scorecard: Winners, Losers, and the Calm Before the Tariff Storm
In this episode, I break down Amazon's Q1 2025 earnings and examine what they reveal about the coming impact of tariffs on the e-commerce ecosystem. I talk about the winners and losers emerging from Amazon's $1 billion forward-buying strategy and what this means for vendors, sellers, and consumers.I share surprising details about Amazon's massive advance purchases from 1P vendors, including reports of purchase orders covering an unusual 10-14 weeks of inventory for China-sourced items. I cover how Amazon's ad business is now its fastest-growing segment at 19% year-over-year growth, outpacing even AWS. I examine the expansion of Amazon Haul, their sub-$20 storefront launched to compete with Temu and Shein ahead of expected tariff impacts.I analyze why consumers are stockpiling while simultaneously trading down to cheaper alternatives. I discuss how Chinese sellers are leveraging AI to compete with US brands, and why Amazon's preparation for tariff disruption signals deeper challenges ahead for the entire e-commerce industry.Key Topics:Amazon's $1 billion forward-buying strategy to beat tariffsThe diverging paths of 1P vendors and China-based sellersHow Amazon's ad business is growing faster than AWSWhy Amazon Haul could dominate as Temu faces 120-145% dutiesConsumer behavior shifts: panic buying on a budgetThe competitive dynamics between Chinese and US sellersWhat Q2 holds for the e-commerce ecosystem post-tariffsSubscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletterFollow Kiri on LinkedInCHAPTERS
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