Amazon just announced the dates for its highly anticipated two-day shopping event, Amazon Prime Day, and it’s set to be sooner than expected given that the annual event generally takes place mid-summer (with notable exception, of course, to 2020 due to the pandemic).
The mega-retailers online event, taking place Monday, June 21st through Tuesday, June 22nd, has been announced with only 19 days notice, and while this may be exciting news for shoppers, merchants are finding themselves at a loss between the unexpected date change and new, unexpected inventory restrictions.
Though Amazon’s official statement on the matter is that there have been no changes to how restock limits are calculated, many sellers, particularly those with large numbers of SKUs, have seen a large and noticeable drop in inventory space.
When paired with the news of an earlier Prime Day event, sellers are left with the understanding that Amazon is preventing items from stocking up in their warehouse due to lack of space. This move also will likely effectively liquidate the slower-moving products as there will be fewer new-to-market or innovative items in stock.
Unfortunately, with the only option to increase inventory allotment being to demonstrate velocity, merchants may miss out on maximizing counted on profits this Amazon Prime Day or will find themselves scrambling to secure alternative fulfillment solutions.
