 | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| | ||||||||||
 Bonjour Millionaire, My super subtle hint to my mom (from Friday) worked???  I wasn't prepared for that But speaking of shopping... Was this email forwarded to you? Sponsored by Peec AI 80% (!!!) of holiday shopping started inside an AI chat last year. ON THIS EPISODE OF GO-TO-MILLIONS  It's in June, B**** July Prime is now June Prime and that is very much my problem. I cover DTC & Amazon in my role and it's very exciting and very busy when a massive tentpole event switches months on us. Amazon is growing faster than anything for so many of us. It's Q1 '26 earnings are $181B and it owns the wallet. They set the bar, we know this, I won't be talking about this. But what just happened with Prime Day is a perfect lens for talking about how marketplace dynamics affect every revenue decision we all make, even if you're not on Amazon or if you business isn't scaling on Amazon (but maybe it should be?) THE ANNOUNCEMENTOur team and likely your team has known for months but the public just found out this past Tuesday. What was once July Prime is now June Prime and it's still 4-days and it's majorly disruptive but also will be great. It moved, and we certainly didn’t get to vote. Everybody who thought they had an extra month to get inventory over? LOL, surprise, clusterfuck. Maybe you had to divert inventory out of other channels. Maybe you had to pull back on the deals you're offering to specific ASINs. Maybe your yearly budget has just become unbalanced as revenue moves out of it's planned month and FORWARD. I usually love to pull revenue forward (it's kinda my thing). But if the full market moves forward then you've not done anything. THE FORECASTING QUESTIONMoves like this where tentpole events change leave a lot on the table. I already (along with my gorg team) have been wondering outloud and to our Amazon team if October Prime could become September Prime? It's very unlikely that it will. But... what if this June Prime goes so well? What if they learned to pull revenue forward... If, and again, it's not going to happen but IF it were to happen, would you be able to get ready? Likely not, right? All of the inventory that you just pulled forward and from other channels is exposed. The replen cycle is not a couple months for many businesses. So, you'd be in the pain cave. Amazon is just our example here today, but in any 3rd-party selling environment, you don’t get to plan around dates the way you do around Black Friday on your DTC store. BFCM doesn’t move. Sure, it gest more competitive and so people move their sales forward, but the holiday is locked. And, you can tell when Cyber Monday will be for years to come. Prime Day can move (clearly). Sephora could do the same thing. What if they abandon April and October and choose March and September? They won't, but then again, who says they won't? Who knows? We don't work there. Certain things, you can look ahead, and it's like proper planning. And certain things are also just understanding that you have no control. So what are you going to do to be more adaptable to get ready for the next time?? Carry more WOH? Plan 2027 with a June and September Prime in-case? Worst-case you're 5 weeks ahead. I know, I know, it's cash flow, so let's see how this Prime goes for Amazon before deciding we can't afford to be ready earlier. If it goes well for them (and let's be honest, it likely will), then expect this to be the new normal until it's 5 days and in May. 😉 WHAT REMAINS IN YOUR CONTROL 16 DAYS OUTSorry, but by now most things are super locked and there's not as much control left. Inventory is received in (hopefully). Deals are submitted (can be changed but only if you really need to, don't do anything rash). Big strategic decisions are done. But still open? How every other channel in your control shows up around this event. Are you complementing Prime? Are you doing counter-programming? Are you doing a full-court press and advertising into Prime from paid social? Sending to your Klaviyo list and routing your shoppers to Amazon, or actively pulling them your customers away from it? I have so many thoughts on how to treat this holistically. And, how we should all build the rest of June so that the entire total business doesn't live and die by 4 days. This discussion is TK this Wednesday. 💋 BACK TO PROPER PLANNINGI'm just taking this as a reminder for myself and for us at large that anything tied to a calendar you don't control is a variable. Anything tied to inventory cycles longer than your nimbleness window is a risk. All of this is not to be forgotten as Q4 is less forgiving and we're already in 2027 planning. How can we absorb the shock better next time? There will be a next time something we don't foresee catches us on the backfoot. How do we take steps to be better when that happens. It will happen!!! ^ these are things constantly on my mind. No wonder I bite my nails. And, let me leave you with this. I know this prep-period is chaotic but anyone running an Amazon business has known about June Prime for many months by now. So, just know we're almost at the show and it's fun to be part of the show. And, if you're also tied to DTC, this should really make July 4th exciting and your July # more achievable. LMK if you want me to keep talking about Amazon, at least sometimes. It's new to us here but I've been involved with the channel since 2018. So, it's more like a return of attention. Sponsored by Peec AI Hello again. Read the report? June 17, Peec AI is launching their AI Shopping platform live. Speaking of VAT, my son's passport came in the mail. I hope we have many leather appointments ahead of us. I mean, museum visits and that we expand his horizons. 💋 Yours, | ||||||||||
|
{beacon}
Workweek Newsletter
