Tess Bennet, Editor, Internet Retailing 2016

72 Hours of Continuous Operation

Speedmaster's Los Angeles distribution centre prepared to stay open for 72 hours straight to keep pace with orders during Amazon's Prime Day. Amazon ran the second instalment of Prime Day on July 12 - an annual sales event positioned as larger than its Black Friday activity, offering deals exclusively to Prime subscribers during the North American summer.

Scale and Infrastructure

Speedmaster CEO Jason Kencevski confirmed the Los Angeles facility would operate around the clock for three days over the sale period.

"We've got a 75,000 square foot facility with state-of-the-art technology that gets thousands of orders out at a time but we still do require man power." - Jason Kencevski, CEO, Speedmaster

During extended hours, the team was supported with additional breaks, meals, and activities - including a water balloon event during a shift changeover the previous year.

"It's fun times actually, they really enjoy it." - Jason Kencevski

Brand Exposure and New Customers

Beyond direct sales, the primary value of Prime Day participation lies in brand awareness and customer acquisition.

"All brands would like to think they are recognised, but from past experience we found that people have purchased their first Speedmaster item thanks to Amazon Prime Day and events like that in the past." - Jason Kencevski

MAP Pricing and Inventory Strategy

In the US, Speedmaster operates under a MAP (minimum advertised price) policy, which prevents discounting current stock. For Prime Day, the focus shifted to discontinued and one-off inventory.

"For Amazon Prime Day deals, we don't put anything on discount that is current line or a current stocking item for anyone that has them on the shelf because we have global MAP pricing. We are unable to budge, but we do put discontinued items or one-off items up there for brand recognition and for customers to buy if they missed out on something in the past." - Jason Kencevski

This approach contrasts with sellers who rely on heavy discounting. Some brands, such as Active Creatures, chose not to participate in Prime Day that year while adjusting their own pricing strategy.