Amazon Prime Day Prep Guide: A Timeline and Playbook for Brands

To prepare for Amazon Prime Day, a brand needs about four months: pick the products that deserve a push, order and ship enough inventory to cover 3 to 5 times normal daily sales, submit deals as soon as Amazon opens the window, finish listings two weeks before the event, and build dedicated ad campaigns with higher budgets. This playbook lays out that timeline step by step.

When is Amazon Prime Day, and why does it matter for brands?

Amazon has held Prime Day every July since 2015, with one exception: 2020, when it moved to October. It started as a single day, grew to 48 hours, and in 2025 ran for four days in July. Amazon usually announces the exact dates only a few weeks ahead, so the safe planning assumption is mid July, every year. Amazon also runs a second members event in October, Prime Big Deal Days, which acts as the unofficial start of holiday shopping.

For a product brand, Prime Day is the biggest demand spike outside of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It is also a customer acquisition event: shoppers who find you on Prime Day buy again, subscribe through Subscribe and Save, and search for your brand later. Walmart, Target and other retailers now run competing sales in the same window, which means shopper attention is high everywhere, not only on Amazon.

Drew Morgans, our founder, puts it simply: Prime Day is a holiday Amazon invented in the slowest part of the year to get shoppers and brands active in the middle of the year, not just in Q4. Treat it as a multi day event with a long runway, not a weekend sale.

What is the ideal Prime Day preparation timeline?

The brands that do well start planning in March for a July event. That is not overkill. Manufacturing lead times, Amazon inbound check in times and deal submission windows all stack up, and each one can quietly remove your options if you start late.

When	Phase	Key actions
March (about 120 days out)	Strategy	Review last Prime Day or your best recent sales event by ASIN, pick hero products based on margin and inventory depth, set revenue and profit goals, start the demand forecast.
April (about 90 days out)	Supply chain	Place production orders (if your lead time is 60 to 90 days, April is already tight), check FBA capacity limits and your IPI score, decide deal types and a discount plan that protects Q4 pricing.
May (about 60 days out)	Inbound and deals	Ship inventory to FBA or AWD, submit Lightning Deals, Best Deals and Prime Exclusive Discounts as soon as the window opens, start listing updates and A/B tests.
June (about 30 days out)	Advertising and creative	Build dedicated Prime Day campaigns, produce Sponsored Brands video, start retargeting audiences, submit Brand Store updates, confirm every deal is approved.
Final two weeks	Lock in	Freeze listings, raise daily budgets, confirm inventory has checked in, prepare FBM backup, brief the team on the event day plan.
Event days	Run	Watch inventory every few hours and budgets hourly, protect the Buy Box, answer customer questions fast, document everything.
7 to 14 days after	Harvest	Keep budgets up, retarget non buyers, request reviews, analyze by ASIN, replenish, plan Prime Big Deal Days and Q4.

If you are reading this with less than 60 days to go, you are probably behind on inventory. You can still win a lot through listing work and advertising, so focus there and be conservative with deals you cannot stock.

How much inventory do you need for Prime Day?

Inventory is the single biggest reason brands underperform on Prime Day. Drew has said it more than once on podcasts: the number one way to win on Amazon is to have your product in stock. If you need to run lean, run lean, but keep your products available.

How to size your Prime Day inventory

1. Find your baseline. Use average daily units sold for each ASIN over a normal recent period, not a promo week.
2. Apply a lift factor. Plan for 3 to 5 times normal daily volume on each event day. Products with a Lightning Deal or a strong category tailwind can run higher, so use your own history where you have it.
3. Add the tail. Sales stay elevated for 2 to 3 weeks after the event because rank and reviews improve. Include that demand.
4. Add a buffer. Put 20% on top. Leftover units sell through in the following weeks; a stockout at peak does not come back.
5. Work backward from check in. Amazon receiving can stretch to 2 to 4 weeks before Prime Day. Aim to have stock checked in by late May or early June, and treat Amazon's published inbound cutoffs as the last possible date, not the target.

Capacity limits, IPI and where to hold stock

Amazon limits how much each seller can send to FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) through capacity limits, and your IPI (Inventory Performance Index) score influences how much room you get. We treat 500 as the target and 450 as the floor. If you are drifting toward the floor, clear slow movers before Prime Day so they do not crowd out your winners.

If you have more stock than Amazon will take at once, hold it upstream and feed it in. Options include Amazon Warehousing and Distribution (AWD), which replenishes FBA automatically, or a third party logistics (3PL) warehouse. We run our own 3PL warehouse in Kansas City for exactly this reason: staged inventory can move into Amazon fulfillment centers when capacity opens up instead of sitting in a container. For the wider system, see our guide to Amazon inventory management.

Why a stockout costs more than lost sales

• Your deal stops running the moment you sell out.
• Organic rank drops, and it can take weeks to recover your Best Sellers Rank.
• Competitors take your search positions while you are gone.
• Ad spend keeps flowing to listings that cannot convert unless you pull it back.

Set up FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) as a backup on your key ASINs so you can keep selling if FBA runs dry. And if cover gets thin, cut advertising before you run out: our rule of thumb is to reduce bids and pause broad and auto campaigns when you are under about 30 days of stock, and pause everything except brand defense under 7 days. A Lightning Deal on a product that cannot handle the spike is worse than no deal at all.

Which Prime Day deals should a brand run?

Deals are how you earn placement on Amazon's Prime Day pages and the deal badge in search. Each type has a different job.

Deal type	How it works	Best used for
Lightning Deal	Time limited deal, up to about 12 hours, featured on the deals page. Amazon charges a fee.	Traffic spikes on hero ASINs with deep stock and strong ratings.
Best Deal	Runs for the full event with a feature placement. Amazon charges a higher fee and expects a meaningful discount.	Your strongest product, when you can hold the discount for the whole event.
Prime Exclusive Discount	A price cut visible only to Prime members, shown with a strikethrough price in search.	Broad catalog coverage at lower cost and lower risk.
Coupon	The clippable badge on the listing and in search. Stacks with some other promotions.	Lifting click through rate on every ASIN you push, even at 5% to 10% off.
Subscribe and Save offer	Deeper discount on the first subscription order.	Consumables, where a Prime Day customer can turn into a recurring one.

Amazon's deal and coupon fees have changed several times in recent years, so check current fees in Seller Central and put them into your margin math before you submit. Submission windows open well before the event and fill up, so submit as soon as the window opens.

How deep should a Prime Day discount be?

For most brands a 15% to 25% discount is enough to qualify for badges and move volume. Our internal rule for Lightning Deals is a product rating of 3.5 stars or better, enough inventory to absorb the spike, and a discount of at least 15%. The best mix usually combines types: a Lightning Deal or Best Deal to pull traffic, coupons to hold visibility across the catalog, and Prime Exclusive Discounts to catch Prime members comparing prices.

Protect your Q4 pricing

Amazon compares deal prices to your recent lowest price. If Prime Day sets a new low, a Black Friday or Cyber Monday deal may need to go even deeper to qualify, and that stacks on top of your Prime Day discount. A 40% Prime Day cut that wrecks your holiday deal eligibility is a loss for the year. Plan both events together; our Black Friday and Q4 guide for Amazon covers the holiday side.

How should you optimize listings before Prime Day?

Prime Day traffic amplifies whatever your listing already is. A page that converts at a normal rate on an ordinary Tuesday will convert better on Prime Day. A page with thin images and a 3.8 star rating will waste the traffic you are paying for. Finish all listing optimization at least two weeks before the event.

Prime Day listing checklist

• Title: primary keyword up front and readable on mobile, where most Prime Day shoppers browse. Amazon tightened title length rules in 2026, so confirm every title meets the current limit.
• Main image: passes the two second glance test in a crowded search results page.
• All image slots used: lifestyle, infographic, comparison and scale images that tell the story in order.
• Bullets: lead with benefits, in the words your reviews use.
• A+ Content: Amazon's enhanced brand content module, live and continuing the sale, not a logo wall. Brand Story active so shoppers can browse the rest of your catalog.
• Backend search terms: synonyms, misspellings and terms not already in the title, updated from recent ad search term data.
• Video: on the listing if you are enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry.
• Reviews: aim for 4.0 stars or better on anything you push. For newer ASINs with few reviews, enroll in Amazon Vine early enough that reviews land before the event. See our Amazon reviews guide.
• Variations: complete and easy to shop, so the discount on one size or flavor does not confuse the page.

Update your Brand Store

If you are brand registered, add a Prime Day page or section to your Amazon Brand Store with your deals, top rated products and cross sells. Submit changes at least 7 days before the event so they clear moderation. Our guide to building an Amazon Storefront covers layout.

Do not experiment during event week

Do not change titles, test new keywords or swap images during Prime Day week. Changes can take a day or two to index, a bad edit can suppress a listing, and there is no time to recover. Run your A/B tests through Manage Your Experiments in May so you have a winner in place before July.

How should you run advertising before, during and after Prime Day?

Prime Day advertising is not just spending more. Cost per click rises sharply because every brand raises budgets at once, so the goal is to spend on audiences and keywords you already know convert. Our Amazon PPC approach runs in three phases.

Two to four weeks before

• Build dedicated Prime Day campaigns for hero ASINs rather than just raising budgets on everything.
• Launch Sponsored Brands video, which stands out in crowded results.
• Start Sponsored Display and Amazon DSP (Demand Side Platform) retargeting so you have warm audiences of product viewers by event day.
• Get all new creative approved at least two weeks ahead.
• Know your break even ACoS (advertising cost of sale, ad spend divided by ad sales) per product, after the deal discount, before you set bids.

During the event

• Raise daily budgets 2 to 3 times normal so proven campaigns do not run out by midday.
• Keep bid increases modest overall, and apply top of search adjustments to your highest converting exact match keywords.
• Check budgets hourly. Pause what is clearly losing and move money to winners, but avoid big structural changes while the platform is under load.
• Defend your brand terms so competitors do not buy your own traffic.

After the event

• Keep budgets elevated for 7 to 10 days. Traffic stays high and the sales velocity you built improves organic rank.
• Retarget shoppers who viewed but did not buy.
• Pull search term reports and move new converting terms into exact match campaigns.

For the full framework, read Amazon PPC: the complete guide for brands.

What should you monitor during Prime Day?

When the event goes live, preparation either pays off or it does not. We run a war room for the brands we manage. Your day of checklist:

1. Inventory every 2 to 4 hours. Switch to FBM or cut ads on any ASIN about to sell out.
2. Ad budgets hourly. A campaign that runs out of budget at 2 p.m. misses the evening peak.
3. Buy Box status. Pricing algorithms and unauthorized resellers can take it during high traffic. See Amazon brand protection.
4. Deal status. Confirm each deal is live and showing the badge.
5. Customer questions. Answer within an hour; fast answers help conversion.
6. Competitor pricing. Watch for big undercuts on your hero terms.
7. Documentation. Screenshot rankings, placements and sales by hour for next year's plan.

What should you do after Prime Day?

• Request reviews. Use the Request a Review button or Amazon's automated request between 5 and 30 days after delivery. More orders means more review opportunities.
• Analyze by ASIN, not in total. Totals hide the story. Which products beat target, which missed, and why: price, stock, creative or ads?
• Replenish fast. If you sold through, get replenishment orders in right away so you are covered for the fall.
• Carry the data into Q4. Prime Day keywords, deal performance and conversion rates are the best baseline you will have for Prime Big Deal Days, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

We wrote a separate guide on this window: our post Prime Day strategy.

What are the most common Prime Day mistakes?

• Starting too late. In June you can fix listings and ads, but not inventory or deal slots.
• Running out of stock. The costliest mistake, because it hurts rank for weeks.
• Discounting too deep. It erodes margin and can block Q4 deal eligibility.
• Bidding without a break even number. A deal price changes your margin, so it changes your target ACoS.
• Sending ads to unfinished listings. Paid traffic to a weak page is wasted.
• Changing listings or Brand Store the day before. Moderation and indexing take time.
• Ignoring mobile. Most Prime Day browsing happens on phones.
• Stopping ads the day after. You give up the halo when shoppers are still active.

How should manufacturers and retail first brands approach Prime Day?

Not every brand on Amazon is a pure online seller. Manufacturers, CPG and food and beverage brands, and brands that grew up in retail have extra decisions to make.

• Vendor Central (1P) brands, where Amazon buys wholesale and resells, have to plan promotions and purchase orders with Amazon earlier and with less control over final price. Brands selling through Seller Central (3P, selling directly to shoppers) control deals and pricing themselves.
• MAP (minimum advertised price) and retail partners. A deep Amazon deal can trigger price matching and pressure from wholesale accounts. Decide which products you can discount without breaking MAP or channel agreements, or use coupons and Prime Exclusive Discounts on Amazon only SKUs and bundles.
• Food, beverage and consumables. Check expiration dating requirements for FBA before you ship a large volume, and lean on Subscribe and Save so the Prime Day customer becomes a repeat customer.
• Multi channel brands. Walmart, Target and others run competing summer events. If you also sell on Walmart Marketplace, TikTok Shop or your own Shopify store, plan inventory and pricing across all of them, not Amazon in isolation. Our multi marketplace team runs these as one calendar.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is Amazon Prime Day each year?

Amazon has held Prime Day in July every year since 2015 except 2020, when it moved to October. The event has grown from one day to multiple days, and in 2025 it ran for four days. Amazon announces exact dates a few weeks ahead, so plan on mid July and adjust when dates are confirmed.

How far in advance should a brand prepare for Prime Day?

Start about 120 days out, in March for a July event. Production orders go in by April, inventory should be checked in at Amazon by late May or early June, deals are submitted as soon as the window opens, and listings and ad campaigns are finished two weeks before the event.

How much should I increase my ad budget for Prime Day?

Raise daily budgets 2 to 3 times normal during the event so your best campaigns do not run out early. Keep bid increases modest and focused on your highest converting exact match keywords, because cost per click rises for everyone. Keep budgets elevated for 7 to 10 days afterward.

What happens if I run out of stock on Prime Day?

Your deal stops, your listing loses sales velocity, and organic rank drops. Recovering your Best Sellers Rank can take several weeks, and competitors take your search positions in the meantime. That is why we plan inventory with a buffer and cut ad spend as cover gets thin.

Is Prime Day worth it for a smaller or newer brand?

Yes, with realistic expectations. Even without an official deal, traffic rises across Amazon, so a well optimized listing with a coupon and focused advertising can capture new customers. Newer brands should avoid deals they cannot stock and focus on conversion and reviews.

How does Prime Big Deal Days in October differ from July Prime Day?

Prime Big Deal Days is Amazon's fall members event and works as an early start to holiday shopping. It is usually smaller than July Prime Day but useful for building sales velocity and reviews before Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Plan its pricing together with your Q4 deals.