Prime Big Deal Days opens the holiday shopping season for every retailer. Use the October event to drive sales and grow your list ahead of BFCM.
Amazon’s biggest fall sales event is two weeks out. Prime Big Deal Days runs October 6 and 7, a 48-hour stretch of deals across more than 35 categories.
Often called October Prime Day, the fall event is where holiday shopping now starts. Shoppers use it to get ahead on gifting and seasonal buys, from home and beauty to toys, tech, and Halloween. Last October, U.S. consumers spent $9.1 billion online across the two days of the event, up 7.3% year over year, with discounts peaking around 18% off list price. The June event set the ceiling for what these moments can do: $26.4 billion in U.S. online spend over four days, the largest online shopping event in U.S. history.
While Amazon sits at the center of the event, shoppers don’t confine their deal hunting to one retailer. That gives every brand a window to capture holiday demand weeks before it would otherwise arrive, while shoppers are actively comparing offers.
Taking advantage of your first-party data and using SMS and email marketing can help you reach shoppers directly with relevant offers.
Even if you skip the discount, October 6 is your cheapest subscriber acquisition of Q4. Traffic and buying intent climb during Prime Big Deal Days whether or not you run a competing sale. Every subscriber you capture that week is someone you own outright through the six weeks of holiday promotion that follow. Point your onsite signup units at the traffic the event sends you, then market to that audience straight through Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Use these Prime Big Deal Days marketing strategies and examples as inspiration to maximize engagement and revenue for your brand, whether you sell on Amazon or on your own site.
1. Poppi: Building hype for their Prime Day deals early
Prebiotic soda brand Poppi used the days leading up to Amazon Prime Day to build anticipation for their exclusive offer. They sent out a teaser message a few days before the event, encouraging customers to get excited for their "biggest deal to date."
To satisfy those who couldn't (or didn't want to) wait, Poppi also included an offer that shoppers could take advantage of right away, linking directly to their Amazon store page. This strategy allowed the brand to drive Prime Day sales before it even started.
If you don’t sell on Amazon but are planning to launch a competing sale, starting promotions early is a great way to get people “primed” and ready to shop. For the October event, that means teasing the week of September 29, before Amazon’s own deal drops start crowding inboxes three times a day.
2. CALPAK: Promote exclusive savings they won’t find on Amazon
CALPAK, a travel brand specializing in bags and accessories, immediately caught their customers’ attention with a straightforward offer of $20 off when customers spent $150.
Consumers were already hunting for deals, and CALPAK redirected that attention to its own site, where shoppers found exclusive savings alongside exclusive items they couldn’t get on Amazon. The offer ran as a limited-time promotion, which gave subscribers a reason to act that day.
Did you know: Shoppers are more likely to make a purchase in the morning (perhaps after browsing the evening before and sleeping on their decisions). Conversion peaks between 8am - 11am, driving a 7.5% higher CVR than the rest of the day.
3. Thread Wallets: Driving traffic to their Amazon store
Instead of driving traffic to their own website during Prime Day, lifestyle and accessories brand Thread Wallets capitalized on consumer demand and excitement by encouraging shoppers to buy from their Amazon store.
This approach may seem counterintuitive at first, especially since you’re likely more focused on increasing your own site traffic. But it’s a smart strategy for brands who have a presence on Amazon. Shoppers will already be there browsing for great deals, and they’re expecting the fast shipping experience they’ve come to love.
By combining email and SMS in their Prime Day promotion, Thread Wallets’ customers can choose which shopping experience they’d prefer, shopping from their phone or computer. Another plus is that both marketing messages reaffirm the incredible offer of up to 50% off.
4. Kodiak Cakes: Promoting their best-selling bundles
Kodiak Cakes, no stranger to sending amazing Prime Day marketing campaigns, used both email and SMS to let customers know about their “epic” Prime Day offer: 20% off oatmeal variety packs. It’s a smart strategy, especially given that 85% of shoppers say that when they subscribe to a brand’s SMS program, they also sign up for their email. Knowing this, they tapped into each channel's strengths to entice their subscribers.
The protein-packed breakfast brand had fun with their messaging by playing with the word “prime” and “dishing” out the savings. The brand also made it easy for customers to start shopping right from their phones by providing individual links to either the oatmeal packet variety pack or oatmeal cup variety pack, whether clicking from the SMS message or email.
Given that consumers interact differently with email and SMS, Kodiak Cakes combined the channels to maximize the campaign’s effectiveness. SMS is short and sweet, and email is long and sweet. Email allows you to cover more ground and link to multiple areas of your website and is the perfect add-on to any urgent or important messages you’ve sent using SMS.
Kodiak Cakes used both channels well. They used vibrant imagery to showcase their tasty products in their email, and for SMS they gave customers direct links to shop their bestsellers during the limited-time sale.
5. The INKEY List: Emphasize limited-time deals to align with the urgency of Prime Day
Skincare brand, The INKEY List used their SMS channel to promote a limited-time, member-exclusive offer.
Knowing that their customers were already on the lookout for limited-time deals, they leaned in on urgency, and used their SMS channel to give members an exclusive offer on custom skincare—making them feel like the VIPs they are.
Did you know: Shoppers across all generations are very open to discovering and purchasing new items on mobile. Mobile carried the majority of that spending last October, at 51.4% of all U.S. online dollars, or $45.6 billion, up 11.6% year over year.
Want more ideas for Prime Big Deal Days and beyond? Explore our SMS gallery, Texts We Love, for inspiration from leading brands. And check out our 2026 Marketing Campaign Calendar filled with tips and templates for key marketing dates. For the weeks right after the event, pair it with our BFCM 2026 guide.
