Six “Amazon Cyber Monday” strategies!

With the New Year’s holiday approaching and the number of events increasing, many people are thinking about purchasing new items, especially winter items. We can’t wait until the New Year’s sales!” For those of you who are thinking, “I can’t wait until the New Year’s sales! In this issue, we will introduce tips on how to ensure you get the best deals on your targeted items ahead of Amazon’s big Cyber Monday time sale, which will start at 18:00 on Friday, December 8, 2017!

Amazon Time Sale Strategies to Take Advantage of on Cyber Monday

The large time sale “Amazon Cyber Monday” will be held from 18:00 on 12/8/2017 (Fri.) to 23:59 on 12/11/2017 (Mon.), but Amazon holds many time sales on a regular basis, not only on Cyber Monday. We pick up useful information that you may not be aware of, such as convenient functions and product purchase systems that can be used even on Cyber Monday!

▶︎Amazon Cyber Monday special page is here

Preparations to do before Cyber Monday

It is quite common to find an item you want after a sale has started, but by the time you find it, it is already sold out. Be prepared to get what you want at a great price!

(1) Use your watch list to make sure you don’t miss any of the items you’re looking for.

Time sales, in which sale prices are applied only for a limited time, are flooded with orders for popular items as soon as they start. It can be tiring to constantly browse through the product pages until the sale starts. This is where the Watch List feature comes in. The time sale items are displayed in advance of the start of the sale, and the items can be added to a watch list before the start of the sale.

By adding items to your watch list, you will receive notifications just before the sale starts, allowing you to get a head start on the most important part of a time sale.

(2) Receive notifications via smartphone apps

Watchlist notifications and waiting list notifications, which will be introduced later, can be checked on the web browser, but the smartphone app will notify you of the status via push notifications. We recommend using the smartphone app to avoid ” I missed the notification and time has passed ” as much as possible.

(3) Get sale information via email newsletter!

If you sign up for the e-mail newsletter, you can get information about sales as soon as possible. Unlike a watch list, this is a passive function, but if an item you are interested in is on sale, you can save yourself the trouble of searching for it yourself.

How to get around after Cyber Monday starts

Once you have prepared for the sale by adding items to your watch list, all you have to do is wait for the sale to start. However, there are also some points to keep in mind when purchasing sale items. Here are some mechanisms to remember to get the items you want in a limited amount of time!

(4) Once the sale starts, the first priority is to “add to cart”!

When a sale starts, an order button with the sale price applied (Add to Cart button) is placed on the product page in addition to the regular price order button. During a time sale, if you can “ add to cart,” you can secure the product, but since popular products fill up the order slots in an instant, it is a good idea to put the product in the cart for now if you are not sure about it.

However, please note that during the time sale, there is a 15-minute time limit for keeping items in the cart, and if you do not complete your purchase within the time limit, it will be automatically cancelled. If you are in doubt, you can use the 15 minutes as thinking time. Also, once the sale starts, a meter will be displayed to show what percentage of the inventory has been added to the cart, so you can keep track of the number of items in stock.

(5) Add items to your cart after the sale starts!

Discounts are not applied to items added to the cart before the sale begins, even if they are eligible for the sale. Note that during a time sale, items must be added to the cart at the sale price, which is different from the regular price.

(6) Don’t give up yet! You may be able to purchase an item on the waiting list!

It is not unusual for popular items to run out of stock as soon as the sale begins. In such cases, you may want to take advantage of the ” wait-list” function. If an item has not been purchased within 15 minutes of being added to the cart, the right to purchase the item will be given to someone on the waiting list. You will be notified when your turn comes around on the waiting list, but be careful, because if you do not add the item to your cart within 3 minutes, your right to purchase it will be revoked.

What is “Amazon Cyber Monday”?

Although not so familiar in Japan, the fourth Thursday of November is a national holiday in the U.S. to celebrate the fall harvest. The vacation is named “Cyber Monday” because of the surge in sales at online stores on the Monday after the Thanksgiving vacation, and e-commerce sites are holding major sales. Amazon’s Cyber Monday is one of the largest of its kind, with an extra-large year-end time sale on more than 20 million products for 78 hours from 18:00 on Friday, December 8 to 23:59 on Monday, December 11, 2017.

▶︎Amazon Cyber Monday special page