334. Should You Run a Prime Day Sale in Your eCommerce Store

If you haven’t heard, Amazon released their official Prime Day dates, July 8 – 11, and Walmart and Target have jumped on the bandwagon with multi-day sales of their own. 

So you might be wondering… should you run a Prime Day sale too?

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The Psychology of Prime Day

Here’s the thing about Prime Day… what started as a way for Amazon to ignite sales during the summer months has turned into a full-blown retail holiday that gets shoppers everywhere reaching for their wallets. Just like Black Friday, even if shoppers don’t need anything, they’ll find something to buy just because it’s on sale. People love a deal, and they’re primed to take advantage of one (no pun intended).  As a small business owner, capitalizing on the shopping fever created by a big brand can be a good strategy… You might as well ride the wave, right?

But… do you have to? Before we answer that, let’s walk through a quick + dirty Prime Day sale strategy. 

Prime Day Sale Strategy for Small Businesses

If you are going to run a promotion, here are a few quick tips to make sure you get the most out of this prime shopping event. Why can’t I stop staying PRIME!

Be thoughtful about your offer and discount. 

Yes, a sitewide discount is the easiest to implement and the easiest to market but it’s not always the right move. In most cases, people just buy your best-sellers, and you make less money. 

A straight discount only makes sense if:

• It drives enough volume to boost your total profit (not just revenue)
  
• Or it gives you a quick cash bump during an otherwise slow time

If you don’t have historical data to lean on, you’ll just have to make an educated guess on whether or not a sitewide discount is the right option for you. It’s all good, do it this time, and then you’ll have data to back you up, no matter what the outcome. 

The more strategic option is to curate a collection of items that need a little love. 

• Seasonal items you want to move
  
• Mundane or less flashy products
  
• Slower sellers you’re phasing out

Draw them in with a juicy offer on those items,  the ones you’re okay earning less on, and then make sure your best-sellers and money makers are easy to find so they can add those to their cart too.

It’s kinda like when a store advertises “Up to 70% Off,” but only two items are actually 70% off… and everything else is more like 15–30%. It gets people in the door while protecting margins. 

Market Like Your Sales Depend on It!

Once you’ve got your offer nailed down, make sure you market it like crazy. 

• Send at least 3 emails: launch day, reminder, and last chance
  
• Talk about it everywhere: email, social, SMS – whatever you use
  
• Optimize your website to highlight the sale

Shopify Secrets Students: 

If you’re a Shopify Secrets student, there are a couple of sections in there that can help you bring attention to the event. 

• The custom scheduled section that shows you how to turn any section from your theme into a scheduled section. This could be a banner for your home page, a site-wide announcement bar, it doesn’t matter. Then, the section will show/hide based on the dates you set. 
• The scheduled section with a countdown timer. This one is relatively new, it’s a pre-built promotional section with a countdown timer. The entire section can also be scheduled to show/hide based on the dates that you set. 

These are great because they let you promote the sale and add urgency, but not worry about forgetting to remove the section confusing shoppers and creating customer service issues. 

Play Up That You’re a Small Business

And finally, make it human! Remind customers that they’re supporting a small business and a real person behind the logo. You can do this by using a cheeky name like “Not a Prime Day Sale”, and showing your face in the marketing of the promotion. Be as direct as possible about it. You might think people already know you’re a small business, but people forget and it never hurts to remind them. 

So… back to the question… should you run a prime day sale?

Should You Run a Prime Day Sale

Ultimately, only you can answer that question, but let me give you a little food for thought… a few questions you can ask yourself. 

Do you want to? 

Seriously, do you want to go through the trouble of organizing and optimizing your site, promoting the sale, sending the emails, making the decisions. If you don’t, no shame in that. 

Do you have a product or collection that makes sense to feature? 

As we discussed, you want to avoid just giving away money on your best-sellers that people would pay full price for. If you have a small assortment and don’t have a big enough customer base to see a significant lift in dollar profit, it might not be worth it. 

Will this support your goals for the quarter? 

Depending on your goals for this quarter, is this going to serve you in a positive way, or will it just distract you from what you should be working on? 

This is a conversation I have with clients all the time. Just recently, a new Lounge member mentioned she had “so much to fix” on her website while we were talking through what she should work on first since joining the program. But I’d already looked — and spoiler alert: she didn’t. What she really needed was more visibility. It’s so easy to distract ourselves from the things that actually move the needle. Don’t let a three-day sale that won’t impact your bottom line be one of those distractions.

Final Thoughts

You don’t need to run every sale or jump on every trend to grow a successful business.
You just need to stay focused on what actually moves the needle for you and keep moving forward. 

I know 2025 has been a ride, and there’s been a lot of uncertainty. But what I’m seeing with those who are staying focused and just keeping their eye on the prize, their sales are up this year, and they didn’t need any silly gimmicks to accomplish that. 

So, whether you decide to ride the wave or sit this one out, just make sure it’s a decision — not a reaction.

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