Amazon Inventory Financing and Preparing for Prime Day

The Kickfurther team explains how to prepare your business and its biggest asset - your inventory - for Prime Day.

Amazon Prime Day is an annual shopping event exclusively for Amazon Prime members that offers discounts and deals on a wide range of products, including electronics, clothing, home goods, and more. This event provides a great opportunity for businesses of all sizes to increase their sales, reach new customers, and grow their brands.

However, preparing for Prime Day can be a challenge, particularly when it comes to managing inventory. As you prepare for the event, you’ll want to ensure you stock enough inventory. If it’s your first time, it may take some trial and error to understand what demand will look like. To meet that demand, you may need access to funds from financing services like Kickfurther.

Keep reading to learn how Amazon inventory financing can help you prepare for Prime Day and what else you should do to get ready.

First, A Brief History of Amazon Prime Day

Amazon Prime Day was first launched in 2015 as a one-day event to celebrate Amazon's 20th anniversary but has since grown into a multi-day shopping extravaganza.

Prime Day typically takes place in July, but the exact date may vary from year to year.

Amazon also offers a variety of promotions leading up to and during Prime Day, including early access to deals, limited-time Lightning Deals, and exclusive discounts on Amazon services like Prime Video, Prime Music, and Audible.

Benefits of Amazon Prime Day for Small Businesses

Small businesses can leverage the increased traffic and exposure on Amazon Prime Day to connect with new customers and boost sales. You can -and should- offer special deals and discounts during the event to further enhance your revenue and expand your business.

In addition, Prime Day provides access to a wider customer base. Amazon Prime members are actively searching for deals and promotions during this period, creating an opportunity for you to tap into this loyal customer base to increase your sales and attract new customers.

During Prime Day, small businesses can compete with larger companies on an equal footing, as all sellers are eligible to participate in the event. This offers a level playing field for small businesses to showcase their products and gain visibility.

Finally, if you have excess stock, you can use Prime Day as an opportunity to liquidate inventory and loosen cash flow as you make room for new products.

Getting Your Business Ready for Prime Day

To prepare for business for Prime Day, here are some steps you can take:

Develop a Prime Day strategy: Consider what products you want to promote and what kind of deals you can offer. Decide on your Amazon Prime Day ad budget and plan out your campaigns.
Optimize product listings: Make sure your product listings are accurate and attractive. Include high-quality images, detailed descriptions, and relevant keywords. Check out competitor listings to get an idea of how to make your listings stand out.
Promote your Prime Day deals: Use social media, email marketing, and other advertising channels to promote your Prime Day deals and generate buzz for your brand.
Prepare for increased customer service demands: Anticipate increased customer inquiries and make sure you have a plan in place to handle them promptly and professionally.
Have a review strategy in place: Take advantage of the increase in traffic (and sales!) to build your review numbers. Automate your review requests at scale with FeedbackFive.

By taking these steps to prepare for Prime Day, you can maximize your sales and revenue, increase your brand awareness, and attract new customers to your business.

Prepping Your Inventory for Amazon Prime Day

Next, let's focus on how you can prepare your inventory for Prime Day. This is such an important step, it deserves its own section!

First, we recommend that you review previous sales data. This will help you identify which products sold well during previous events. Use this information to determine which items you should prioritize in your inventory prep.

Based on your sales data, order additional inventory of your most popular items so that you don't run out of stock. Keep in mind that you may need to order more than usual to account for the increased demand.

If you're not already using Amazon's Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service, consider using it for Prime Day. FBA can help you streamline your fulfillment process, provide faster shipping to customers, and free up time to focus on other aspects of your business. If you’re using FBA, make sure to check your capacity limits before ordering too much inventory.

You should also keep a close tab on your inventory levels. Make sure you know how much you have in stock at all times and how fast it is selling. Use this information to place regular orders with your suppliers to ensure you never run out of stock. RestockPro can accurately forecast and provide restock suggestions to take the guesswork out of this important task.

Lastly, have some capital ready. It's crucial to have the necessary funds to place supplier orders so your products will be here in plenty of time for big sales events. All other preparations will mean nothing if your products aren’t available for your customers to buy on Prime Day. Once your items are in stock, don't forget that you’ll need additional funds for advertising to ensure you reach your sales targets.

How Kickfurther Can Help with Your Amazon Inventory Financing

While sellers can see great success selling their products on Prime Day, it can require a significant amount of Amazon inventory financing to meet the increase in demand. But muddling through inventory financing for small businesses can be a challenge in and of itself.

Kickfurther can fund up to 100% of your inventory and you don’t pay back until your product sells. With Kickfurther, you can fund your entire order(s) each time you need more inventory and put your existing capital to work growing your business.

No immediate repayment is required, giving you the flexibility to schedule repayments based on your cash flow needs.

Kickfurther also provides non-dilutive funding, meaning it doesn't take equity in exchange for funding. And unlike traditional debt financing, Kickfurther doesn't put debt on your balance sheet, which can limit your access to working capital and negatively impact your business's valuation. You'll have quick access to capital when you need it, allowing you to fund your entire inventory order to meet supplier payments and allocate your existing capital toward other business needs.

To get started with Kickfurther, follow these three simple steps: create a free business account, complete the online application, and review a potential deal with one of our account representatives to secure funding in minutes.

Do you need help funding and managing your inventory? You're in luck! You can receive one free month of RestockPro when you fund through Kickfurther. Act now to receive this special offer from eComEngine and Kickfurther.