Successful promotional execution starts with retail readiness, strong product availability, and fast, automated actions. To drive results, advertising must be tightly aligned with operational execution. Most importantly, all functional teams need to work from a shared plan and timeline.
Strategic planning (90+ days before)
Complete the Retail Readiness analysis to assess catalog health and promotional eligibility
Use the Promo Simulator to guide ASIN selection and promotional strategy
Check the Ineligibility Dashboard report to ensure that all products are eligible for advertising, if they are not you may need to adjust your assortment, or work w/ Amazon to whitelist or remove the suppression
CommerceIQ -> Reports -> Classic -> Standard -> Ineligibility Dashboard
Upload your deals within Amazon Vendor Central or work directly with your vendor manager to refine your deal assortment
Use sales forecast or work w/ Amazon directly to determine your estimated deal quantity - make sure this inventory lands well in advance of your promotion
Media setup and strategy (30–45 days before)
Align on total event budget and allocation across the lead-in, event, and lead-out phases
Confirm ASIN priorities and promotional cadence
Present and finalize the Prime Day or tentpole event media strategy
Upload budgets into the platform, tagging each period accordingly
Campaign activation (0–21 days before)
Launch new campaigns based on the aligned plan
Add campaigns to bid automation tools such as Hourly Bidder or Campaign Optimizer
Begin optimizations, including placement modifiers like Top of Search and pacing checks
Tracking and reporting (During the event)
Add an internal filter for your tentpole event products to enable more in depth reporting
Setup daily reporting during the ramp-up period and on event days within the Advanced Reports builder
Review the hourly sales tracker to monitor performance during the campaign
CommerceIQ -> Reports -> Classic -> Standard -> Real Time Sales)
Share updates on priority keyword performance as needed
Monitor campaign performance and bidding strategies in real time
Wrap-up and learnings (Post-event)
Deliver a post-event recap report with results and key insights, covering both media and sales performance
Deactivate temporary strategies, including pausing event-specific campaigns and resetting bid modifiers
Identify optimization opportunities to inform future tentpole events
Considerations
Which products should I promote?
Focus on products that are retail ready with strong content, positive reviews, healthy inventory levels, and no lost buy box issues. While any product can be promoted, the greatest impact typically comes from three key categories:
Hero products: Promote your top-performing SKUs that drive the majority of your revenue. These products already have strong relevance and visibility, making them ideal candidates to scale volume. Promotions can help elevate them to best-seller status or boost their organic ranking to the top of search results.
New product launches: Promotions are a powerful way to build awareness and momentum for new items. While conversion rates may initially be lower than for hero products, consider the long-term value in terms of velocity, customer reviews, and visibility.
High-margin tail products: Consider promoting products that are profitable for both you and the retailer but currently lack visibility in search. These items often see the largest incremental lift from a promotion and can benefit from a temporary boost that moves them onto the first page of search results.
How much of a discount should I offer?
Your ideal discount should strike a balance between profitability, price elasticity, and protection against third-party arbitrage.
Use our price elasticity calculator to estimate the expected return on a price drop.
If you subscribe to our digital shelf solution, use the promotional calendar to track competitor deal depths and better understand your category’s landscape.
Watch for 3P arbitrage. Heavily discounted inventory may be purchased by third-party sellers and resold at full or slightly discounted prices, potentially resulting in lost buy box and revenue in the weeks following your promotion.
To minimize this risk, model 3P profitability to define your maximum deal depth. In the example below, the breakeven cost for a third-party seller on this item is $27.45, you could safely discount a $35 product by up to $7.55 (22%) without creating arbitrage risk.
ASP | $35.00 |
Seller Central Fee (15%) | $(7.50) |
Fulfillment Cost | $(15.00) |
Storage Fee | $(0.05) |
Maximum Unit Cost to Break Even | $27.45 |
Maximum Deal Discount ($) | $7.55 |
Maximum Deal Discount (%) | 22% |
How do I determine if a promotion is successful?
Success can look different depending on your promotional goals—whether you're aiming to drive volume, improve visibility, or support new product launches. The key is to align your measurement approach with your objective.
Common metrics to track include:
Average daily unit sales before vs. after the promotion
Total incremental sales volume during the promotional period
Organic share of voice before vs. after the event
Changes in Best Seller Rank (BSR) before vs. after
New Subscribe & Save subscribers (if using SNS-only coupons)
Each of these metrics helps paint a fuller picture of performance, from immediate sales lift to longer-term gains in visibility and customer acquisition.
Ready to plan your next big event?
Connect with your CommerceIQ team to kick off planning and execution.