Prime Day in July and the Black Friday to Christmas window carry a third to half of annual sales for many brands. They also carry the year's most expensive clicks. The difference between a profitable peak and an expensive one is decided weeks earlier. This is the plan we run.
Six weeks before: rank and reviews
Amazon's search results during an event favour products that already rank and already have reviews. Advertising during the event buys sales; advertising before it buys position.
- Raise bids on the five to ten keywords that matter most, four to six weeks out, accepting a higher ACoS to lift organic rank.
- Run Vine or review requests so the rating and count are competitive before traffic arrives.
- Fix listing weaknesses now; a conversion lift of 20% is worth more during peak than any bid change.
Four weeks before: inventory
Stock-outs during an event reset rank and waste all the preparation. Check stock cover per ASIN against last year's peak multiplier (typically 2 to 4x daily sales for Prime Day, 3 to 6x for Black Friday week) and send inventory before Amazon's inbound deadlines. If an ASIN cannot be covered, do not advertise it during the event; shift budget to products that can.
Two weeks before: deals and pricing
Lightning Deals and Prime Exclusive Discounts need lead time and have fees. Decide per product whether the margin supports a deal, and remember that the deal price anchors the reference price afterwards. Products without a deal still convert well during events if the listing shows value clearly.
Event days: budget and bids
- Increase daily budgets by 2 to 3x on campaigns that hit the cap in the previous event; a campaign that runs out of budget at noon misses the evening peak.
- Raise top-of-search placement multipliers on brand and best-converting generic keywords; conversion rates rise during events and justify higher bids.
- Watch spend hourly on the first event day and cut keywords whose ACoS exceeds break-even by noon.
- Keep brand defence active: competitors bid aggressively on your brand terms during events.
The step-down after
The most common mistake is leaving event bids and budgets in place for weeks. Conversion rates fall back the day after; the same bids produce a much higher ACoS. Step bids down over three to five days, return budgets to normal and use Sponsored Display retargeting to reach the shoppers who viewed but did not buy during the rush.
Q4 specifics
Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the pre-Christmas weeks are one continuous peak with different shapes: deal-driven at the end of November, gift-driven in December with a shipping cut-off. Plan two budget curves, not one, and move spend to gift-oriented keywords and bundles in the second half.
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