Does Amazon's Annual Prime Day Help Small Sellers?

Amazon is running a promotion to encourage customers to buy items from small businesses as part of this year's Prime Day shopping event - but it doesn't apply to every small seller.

Amazon described the promotion as follows: "Starting on June 21, 2022, through July 11, 2022, customers around the world who buy items sold by eligible small businesses on Amazon.com will be entered for a chance to win Amazon gift cards, valued up to $5,000 each." And customers who are based in the US will also be entered to win other prizes such as VIP tickets to the 2023 Super Bowl.

Sellers whose products are included in the promotion will have received an email on June 21, 2022. Amazon created a FAQs page where it includes information on eligibility. (You must be signed in as a seller to access the Prime Day Small Business Promotions FAQ page.)

Here's the page Amazon customers see about the promotion. Will this help you and other small sellers? The headline of yesterday's announcement is a clue: "Prime Day 2022: Promotion to support small business brand," with the key word being "brand." 

Amazon makes a distinction between small sellers and small brands, which you can read more about in this April article about a "Small Business badge" pilot program. Presumably the small-business Amazon Prime Day promotion that kicked off yesterday will apply only to sellers who are registered with Amazon's Brand Registry.

Has Amazon Prime Day impacted your sales in past years, on or off Amazon? Do you have strategies to leverage the shopping hype that accompanies the event?