Several years ago, we began examining the effects of Amazon’s annual Prime Day on brick-and-mortar shopping patterns. We undertook this endeavor as part of our ongoing mission to use data analytics to better understand the industry landscape. There has, for years, been a perception that brick-and-mortar businesses have something to lose when online shopping events like Prime Day take place, but the numbers tell a very different story.

Although Amazon’s Prime Day promotion helps rake in profits for the online giant, that success hasn’t traditionally translated into lost sales or reduced in-store shopper traffic for other retailers. In 2021, there was virtually no change in foot traffic to brick-and-mortar retailers on Prime day. The same can be said for 2020, 2019, and so on. Furthermore, the data shows that Prime Day may provide other retailers with a boost, as it primes consumers to look for deals.

With that in mind, traditional retailers can set aside fears that Prime Day will somehow hurt their business. Instead, these retailers can use the annual shopping event as an opportunity to boost their own summer shopping numbers—and Amazon’s historical data can help them do it:

We’ve established that Amazon Prime Day isn’t pulling shoppers away from brick-and-mortar stores… so who is shopping on Prime Day? Well, a combination of good timing, well-planned promotions, carefully curated marketing campaigns, and Amazon’s name recognition allows them to pull in people who wouldn’t otherwise be hitting “add to cart.”

Though it has bounced around the calendar somewhat over the past few years, Prime Day has traditionally been a two-day event that spans a Monday and Tuesday in July. On its face, it’s an odd choice. Mondays and Tuesdays are the slowest days for shopping both online and in-store. However, the conversion rates for online shopping peak early in the week. This year, however, Prime Day falls on Tuesday, July 12 – Wednesday, July 13, 2022.

That means Amazon—rather than pulling traffic from other retailers—creates traffic that wouldn’t happen without their promotions. That’s an ample opportunity for other brands who want to get in on the action.

People who would be in the market for smart speakers, e-readers, or streaming devices know that waiting for Prime Day means a steep discount on Amazon’s version of the product. It’s the same logic that works for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or Alibaba’s Singles’ Day. If they know something they’ve been eying will soon drop in price, they will wait. A good deal is a powerful thing.

A good deal can convince shoppers to buy earlier than expected as well. Take back-to-school (BTS) shopping, for example. In Sensormatic Solutions’ 2021 Back-to-School survey, 40% of respondents who participated in the annual shopping event said BTS was their primary motivation for doing so, despite the common belief that BTS shopping doesn’t begin until the end of July.

Amazon does have something special going for it: the Amazon brand. It has become synonymous with three things: availability, convenience, and efficiency. That’s the field that retailers who want to compete with Amazon on Prime Day are playing on. Competing with that can seem daunting. After all, analytics and data collection programs like Amazon’s seem one in a million. They have access to a near-infinite set of data points about their shoppers’ preferences.

However, brick-and-mortar retailers can curate this data too. Pairing in-store shopper-journey systems with powerful analytics synchronized with well-designed loyalty programs can allow retailers to predict just as much about their stores and customers as online giants do.

Retailers can leverage modern artificial intelligence (AI) to put another set of “eyes” on their stores. Computer vision technologies can integrate with existing video systems to watch what’s happening on the floor in real time and provide insights into customer journeys, demographics, sentiments, and more. Effective use of enterprise-wide inventory tracking systems can help streamline buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS) programs, monitor wait times, and identify issues on the floor to stop problems before they start.

One aspect of online shopping that customers return to time and time again is the confidence that they will get the item they want on the first try. RFID item-level inventory systems can help brick-and-mortar retailers give customers that same level of confidence. They use AI and RFID sensors to monitor inventory as it moves from source-to-store and provide an accurate, real-time view of what’s in stock and where. Retailers can link this information directly to online ordering, so customers feel confident that the item they want is in stock and will be waiting for them if they opt for a BOPIS purchase.

Many brands—including Target and Walmart—have taken the plunge and launched competing promotions. Last year, 51% of the top 250 online retailers planned competing promotions, and that number may very well go up in 2022. While online retailers have represented a large portion of these businesses, brick-and-mortar enterprises—especially those with good omnichannel programs—may want to consider joining the fray by implementing their own version of Prime Day. As far as I can see, there’s nothing to lose and much to gain.

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