Prime Day discounting reached an all-time high this year. Find out how US and UK strategies differed.
The 48-hour mega sale returned to a July slot for the first time since 2019 and saw Prime members purchase more than 300mn items worldwide, up 20% on last year.
Using EDITED Retail Intelligence, we assessed how the fashion industry’s deals stacked up to previous years and the discounting strategies retailers put in place to win back market share from Amazon.
Interested in knowing how EDITED can help uncover your competitors discounting strategies? Get started here.
Key takeaways
• Retailers in the US and UK protected their margins this year by choosing to discount more products at a lower average reduction than pre-pandemic levels.
• The high number of majority SKU sell outs in the UK for products discounted between 20%-30% indicates high discounts aren’t needed to entice consumers. However, be sure to utilize event days to further push unwanted stock.
• Sleepwear and underwear had the smallest portion of styles discounted in both the US and UK.
• Retailers in both regions included phrases, “it’s a prime day to shop” and “prime time deals” via email to grab the attention of shoppers looking for Amazon Prime Day deals.
• While a wide range of discounts were promoted via email, 50% deals including “50% off,” to “50% off sales” and “up to 50% off” were popular across both US and UK retailers spanning apparel, footwear, accessories and homeware emails.
The Discounts Taken
2022 discounting hit an all-time high over Prime event days after last year’s efforts to recoup COVID-related losses. The UK exceeded pre-pandemic levels with 72% of products discounted compared to 67% in 2019. The average discount amount was still in line with 2019 and 2020, not touching the 40% mark in the last four years.
Previously, products were discounted at a higher average in the US, but this year the average dropped to be more closely aligned with the UK. So while more options were discounted this year – 5% and 13% more in the UK and US, respectively – retailers are protecting product value. This is a particularly useful strategy to shift end-of-season stock, without risking your bottom line.
In the US, majority SKU sell outs were most common for products reduced between 50%-60%; however, the same days the previous week saw half the number of sell outs for the bracket. Prime Day clearly influenced consumer purchasing.
In contrast, the UK saw most SKU activity at lower reductions. This confirms consumers are happy to purchase at under the 50% off mark, but little change was seen in both retailer discount strategy and online sales compared to the previous week. While it is important to protect your margins, utilize special events to promote stock that needs clearing or is struggling to shift.
The Categories Reduced
In the UK, dresses had the most products discounted at 85%; however, this category had the shallowest discount among other categories analyzed at 33%. This demonstrates that the UK market was saturated with dresses, but retailers didn’t discount heavily to sell them. Tops was the category with the highest percentage of products discounted in the US at 59%, followed closely by outerwear at 58%.
Across both markets, sleepwear had a similar story. In the US and UK, the discount proportion was 55% and 61%, respectively, while the discount amount was 39% and 35%, respectively. Underwear discounts were also similar in both regions, with the UK discounting 6pp more styles than the US at 41%, while the US had deeper discounts at 41%, 6pp higher than in the UK.
The UK drastically discounted dresses and outerwear at 85% and 83% of the assortments respectively, while the US only discounted 55% and 50%, respectively. Despite this difference, the discount amounts were relatively similar, ranging from 33% to 41% for both categories.
Key Messages & Offers
To compete with Amazon Prime Day, retailers including Sweaty Betty and Soft Surroundings mentioned “it’s a prime day to shop” via email, while Uncommon Sense used the phrase “prime time deals.” End-of-season sales were commonly promoted during these two days with retailers pushing high summer products including shorts, dresses and tees, while ASOS and LIVELY dedicated emails to swimwear collections. Discounts of 50% were pushed, with emails promoting “50% off,””50% off sales” and “up to 50% off,” while Evans and Dune dared to offer “up to 70% off.”
Discount Codes
A selection of noteworthy discount codes that stood out within retailer email communications between Jul 12 – 13, 2022:
• Phase Eight (UK) – EXTRA10 – Extra 10% off sale
• J.Crew (US) – BIGGERSALE – Extra 70% off 3+ sale styles
• Missguided (UK) – TAKE80 – 80% off everything
• Morphe (UK) – SPLASH50 – 50% off
• Madewell (US) – CLASSIFIED – Extra 30% off sale
• ASOS (UK) – BONUS – Extrea 15% off 7-9PM
• Splendid (US) – SU20 – 20% off everything
• Lulus (US) – HALFSIES – Extra 50% off sale items
Prime mentions
Images via Francesca’s Email US – Jul 12, 2022 & Sweaty Betty Email UK – Jul 12, 2022
Swimwear
Images via ASOS Email UK – Jul 12, 2022 & LIVELY Email US – Jul 12, 2022 -2
End-of-Season Sales
Images via Moose Knuckles Email US – Jul 13, 2022 & Jacamo Email US – Jul 12, 2022
20% Off
Images via Havaianas Email UK – Jul 12, 2022 & Bluemercury Email US – Jul 12, 2022
50% Off
Images via Coach Email US – Jul 12, 2022 & FitFlop Email UK – Jul 12, 2022
70% Off
Images via Studio Email UK – Jul 13, 2022 & Dune Email UK – Jul 13, 2022
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Contributions by tara & Avery
Note: Average discount % does not include basket codes applied at checkout.
