How do we beat last year without buying the growth?

> WHAT WE WALKED INTO

A personal-care partner wanted to beat last July’s Prime Day without paying for the difference. The usual way at that is to buy a bigger spike, and the receipt shows up in TACOS the same week. This account went the other way. Over the year between the two events the everyday run rate went from $1,204 a day to $2,038, up 69%. Prime Day 2026 then landed on that higher floor and closed at $12,962, roughly 40% over the 2025 event on both sales and units, at 14.4% TACOS against 14.5% the year before.

> THE MOMENT · THE TWO EVENTS, SIDE BY SIDE

> STEP 01

Grew the everyday business first

The year between the two Prime Days is where this was won. Everyday sales went from $1,204 a day to $2,038, up 69% on the account we run. An event lifts whatever is already selling, so the floor is the part worth working on.

> STEP 02

In stock and holding the buy box

Every SKU in stock across the four days at 99% buy box. Event traffic converts on its own when the page is ready and evaporates when it is not, so the last controllable thing before a Prime window is whether anything on the listing can go wrong during it.

> STEP 03

Kept the ad ratio where it was

TACOS came in at 14.4% against 14.5% for last year’s event, so the extra 40% was not bought. Every dollar of spend in both windows was Sponsored Products, which means that ratio covers the whole ad program rather than a slice of it. Organic carried $7,933 of the total, 61% of the event.

> STEP 04

The lift got smaller and the dollars got bigger

Against the four days before it, the 2026 event lifted 59%. The 2025 event lifted 93%. The smaller number is the better outcome, because a percentage lift shrinks as the floor under it rises: 59% on $2,038 a day beats 93% on $1,204. An event judged on its lift alone rewards a weak baseline.

> THE NUMBERS, DRAWN FROM THIS FILE ONLY

> WHAT CHANGED · FLIP IT YOURSELF