Even if you don’t sell on Amazon, companies can leverage Prime Day to boost revenue. Here’s how.

Prime Day turns 10 this year and it’s going to be bigger than ever. Amazon’s summer shopping event, which was hardly seen as a sure thing when it launched in 2015, will last four days this year, all but guaranteeing it tops 2024’s record-setting sales, when it brought in an estimated $14.2 billion. But some business owners will have a competing event: Anti-Prime Day.

Amazon regularly touts the benefits of Prime Day for its small-business partners, and there certainly are some. Last year, Prime Day saw independent sellers, mostly small and medium-size businesses, sell more than 200 million items. But there are plenty of business owners who refuse to work with Amazon for other reasons. Some feel the company is a threat to their independence. Others feel the fees Amazon charges for sales on its site are unfairly high and squeeze their profit margins. For those businesses, Prime Day 2025, which will be held July 8-12, is just the latest competitive challenge they’re facing from Amazon. But even if you’re not listing items for sale on the site, you can still see a sales bump because of it. “Prime Day creates an excitement around shopping in general, especially among cost-conscious consumers,” says Douglas Bowman, a professor at Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business. “Highlighting items or bundles that are not directly or easily comparable to those on Amazon is a common strategy. For sellers with a loyalty program, extra rewards at this time can be helpful in bringing customers back later.”

Prime Day has become such a significant sales event that other big-box retailers have launched their own sales. And small businesses can take advantage of that surge of online shoppers, ready to spend. Some are working together. Bookshop.org, an online book marketplace whose mission is to support local independent bookstores, will be hosting Anti-Prime Day, encouraging book lovers to bypass Amazon and buy from its independent sellers. To help convince buyers, the site will offer free shipping on all purchases. “Indie bookstores are where new voices are discovered and important ideas are shared,” says Kimberly Snead of Bookshop.org. “They sponsor your local Little League team and host summer reading challenges designed to keep children learning. The Anti-Prime Sale is a moment for Bookshop.org to lay our cards on the table: Indie bookstores are invaluable. Amazon is not.”

The Anti-Prime Day wave isn’t limited to booksellers, though. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce suggests independent business owners lean into the “shop local” movement, underscoring the benefits of supporting those stores, such as personal service, community impact, and unique products. Even if a business doesn’t have a significant online presence, holding a sidewalk sale or offering a perk, such as free delivery or a gift with purchase, can be a way to ride Amazon’s coattails and build the customer base. Don’t make things too complicated. A blanket discount or clearance prices on an array of merchandise is easier for people to understand at a glance than store credits or loyalty rewards. Similarly, keep language simple, emphasizing, perhaps, that anyone can get the discounts without signing up or paying for a membership.

That approach doesn’t just work when local businesses are going up against Prime Day. Intuit’s 2025 E-Commerce Calendar, a global report about the retail industry, found that 39 percent of shoppers worldwide were overwhelmed by the volume of sales and promotions. “Consumers want to buy from brands that make an effort to connect meaningfully year round, not just during conventional shopping seasons,” said Mark Lodwick, senior director of brand experience at Intuit Mailchimp, in a statement. That piece of insight leads to another Chamber of Commerce tip: Local businesses should follow up after the sale. Three to five days after a customer buys something, especially when going up against Prime Day, send a thank-you note or loyalty offer or even a simple usage tip. These can build a relationship between the business and the customer, which could lead to additional sales down the road.

Prime Day might seem like a retail monolith that some small businesses can’t compete with, but the 2025 event could open some windows for independent business owners to attract shoppers. Katie Thomas, who leads the Kearney Consumer Institute, an internal think tank at global consulting firm Kearney, says the longer duration of Prime Day could dilute its urgency and lead to cart abandonment, and the sheer volume of the sales could lead to shopper paralysis. Intuit, meanwhile, notes that older shoppers (55 and up) are 22 percent more likely than younger ones to believe that the discounts offered during sales events are exaggerated. Simple messaging and easy-to-understand sales terms are a way to reach those buyers.