The Fourth Year of Amazon Prime Day Discounts

For the fourth consecutive year, the gigantic online retailer Amazon is celebrating Prime Day, a members-only sale that rivals Black Friday in the number of special discount deals.

To increase anticipation in advance of this sale, Amazon put a count-down clock on its home page. Here's what the clock looked like on 12 July. Despite the name, Prime Day takes place over more than 24 hours, as the clock indicates. According to one evaluation, Prime Day UK's average discount in 2017 was 21%.

In addition to deep discounts on cameras and other electronics, Amazon is also promoting discounts on its own brands, including Amazon Basics. The company's private brands have been attracting customers and increasing revenue year after year.

Currently, Amazon markets 80+ private brands such as Mama Bear, Echo speakers, and Happy Belly bottled water. In 2017, the top-selling product during Prime Day in the UK market was, in fact, the Amazon Echo speaker. Electronics and kitchen products were also strong sellers.

New this year: limited-edition products and new products launched especially on Prime Day.

Based on reports from previous years, bargain-hunting UK shoppers are likely to make Prime Day 2018 the most successful selling day of the year--again. UPDATE HERE

Marketing a mood, not just a raincoat

https://stutterheim.com/uk

Stutterheim is a raincoat brand that has grown quickly by marketing a mood--melancholy, to be exact. The strapline: 'Swedish melancholy at its driest'.

To quote the company's website:

 Feeling blue inspires creativity.

Today, Stutterheim is known for handsewn, upmarket raincoats that are functional as well as fashionable in a 'timeless' way. Emphasising fashion as well as function, Stutterheim also markets limited-edition coats.

Specialty stores such as Harvey Nichols and Le Bon Marche stock Stutterheim in major global cities. The company operates its own store in Stockholm and in New York City.

If Stutterheim had no story line, it might be just another quality fashion raincoat manufacturer. But marketing the creativity of the mood, alongside the quality coats and other products, enhances the brand's appeal and differentiates it from competitors. Two key points of difference are in the mix: mood (or lifestyle) and quality.

The mood is captivating a growing number of brand fans: Stutterheim's Instagram account has 55k followers; its Facebook page has 31k likes; and its Twitter feed has nearly 1k followers.