After seeing the results our team delivered on Amazon, it felt only right to hit pause on AI and unpack what just happened on Amazon Prime Day.

All credit here goes to Bogdan and Dominic from our team. They lived and breathed this 4-day beast. Here’s what they saw, and what we’re baking into the new Prime Day playbook.

Prime Day isn’t a sprint anymore…it’s a test of strategic stamina.

Amazon quietly turned Prime Day into a 4-day event, this isn’t a one-off. It’s the new standard.

The sellers who prepped like it was still 2024?

They burned out by Day 2.

The ones who paced, planned, and played the NEW game?

They won.

🔥 80.7% YOY sales growth across our client portfolio.

💰 Most of the clients hit all-time sales records.

📉 Sellers without a 4-day game plan? Burned budget and lost visibility.

Here’s what worked and what really didn’t…

Prime Event Price Discounts, particularly those at 30%, dominated consistently, outperforming everything else.

20% Prime Day Price Discount came second, followed by coupons, which enhanced visibility, then strike-through pricing. Sellers who tried to preserve margins with minimal discounts found themselves watching competitors capture the traffic they should have owned.

Prime Day operates on different economics where aggressive discounting unlocks algorithmic advantages.

👉 Prime Day is about velocity, not margin.

One of the most critical lessons was the importance of pre-event backups. Sellers who documented their profitable settings before making Prime Day changes could quickly revert post-event, thereby avoiding the typical weekend performance crash that often plagues many sellers after major promotional periods.

This operational discipline saved one client from a post-Prime Day disaster when their ACOS spiked 300% on Saturday morning. A quick backup had them back to profitable operations within hours instead of days. 

Day 4 of Prime Day revealed the power of strategic budget allocation. While many sellers front-loaded their spending in Days 1-2, those who reserved budget for the later days captured significant performance advantages when competitors were tapping out.

👉 Day 4 = The Goldmine: We saw accounts that maintained budget discipline achieve 33% performance increases on Day 4 alone. The extended format rewards patience and planning over reactive spending, as Amazon's data shows that Day 4 had some of the highest conversion rates, but only for sellers with inventory and budget remaining.

FBA accounts grew 81% YOY vs. just 22% for FBM.

FBA sellers consistently outperformed FBM sellers across every category we managed. This wasn't marginal, it was substantial. Amazon's logistics network, particularly during peak traffic periods, provides a competitive advantage that independent fulfillment services simply can't match.

The difference was stark: FBA accounts in our portfolio averaged 81% growth year-over-year, while FBM accounts averaged just 22%. For sellers still undecided about FBA, Prime Day 2025 provided a clear case study in the value of Amazon's infrastructure during high-stakes periods.

1. External Traffic: Not the Lever You'd Expect

Pushing additional external traffic on event days showed minimal incremental impact across our portfolio. Amazon was already spending massive amounts on platform-wide advertising, creating a high-traffic environment where additional external sources didn't provide the usual lift.

External traffic campaigns, which typically drive strong results, saw diminished returns during the event days.

The lesson: During major Amazon events, external traffic isn't a bad strategy, but it's not the primary lever for success. Focus your optimization efforts on within-ecosystem strategies where the real Prime Day advantages lie.

2. Real-Time Optimization: The Patience Test

Amazon's reporting delays and fluctuating CPCs during the event made real-time optimization more challenging than in the previous years. Sellers who over-optimized based on delayed data often made decisions that negatively impacted performance once attribution data caught up.

We observed that accounts that resisted the urge to make knee-jerk adjustments significantly outperformed those that reacted to early data. One client who maintained their strategy despite Day 2 reports showing concerning metrics ultimately achieved their strongest Prime Day performance ever once the full attribution picture emerged 48 hours later.

The sales spike is behind us, but for many sellers, Prime Day left behind some quiet chaos.

Here’s what we’re seeing across accounts:

These aren’t one-off issues. They’re signals that your account infrastructure may not be ready for Q4’s pressure.

That’s why we’ve launched our Prime Day Recovery Plan a fast-track system to:

Turn Prime Day momentum into Q4 scale, NOT support tickets.

Prime Day 2025 was more than a four-day sales event, it was a shift in Amazon's rewards strategy.

The sellers who won weren’t just ‘lucky’. They played the long game: prepped early, paced their budgets, and stayed disciplined. That marathon mindset is now the baseline.

And it’s working. Our top accounts are already up 7% post-event, proving that the right strategy doesn’t just win the promo - it builds lasting momentum.

The sprint is over. Success now belongs to those who can endure it.

As we head into Q4, remember: your promos are only as strong as the systems behind them.

Let’s scale smarter, 

— Iulia

P.S. Want expert eyes on your campaigns? My Media team is hosting a FREE Q&A to help you optimize like a pro. Save your spot now.