As Amazon Readies For Prime Day, Rival Retailers Prepare Their Own Sales Events

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN is preparing for its sixth annual Prime Day sales event that offers Amazon Prime members big discounts across nearly all categories on the e-commerce site.

This year, several of Amazon's retail rivals are trying to steal its thunder with their own discount-heavy events.

A Brief History: Amazon Prime Day was first observed on July 15, 2015, in celebration of the company’s 20th anniversary. The initial event lasted 24 hours was accessible to consumers in nine countries: the U.S., the UK, Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Canada and Austria.

Prime Day has traditionally been a summer happening, but due to last year’s COVID-19 pandemic, it was pushed back to October. The health crisis didn’t keep shoppers away — the event brought in more than $3.5 billion in sales from third-party sellers, up 60% from the previous year, and the company claimed Amazon Prime members saved a total of $1.4 billion in discounts during the event.

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Ready, Set, Shop: This year’s Prime Day kicks off at 12 a.m. PDT on June 21 and lasts through the end of the day on June 22.

The event is open to Amazon Prime members in 20 countries, including first-time participants Portugal and Saudi Arabia. The event will not include Canada and India this year due to the ongoing coronavirus health crisis in those countries.

Joseph Feldman, senior managing director and assistant director of research at Telsey Advisory Group, is forecasting this year’s Prime Day will generate between $11 billion and $12 billion in sales, with $8 billion to $8.5 billion coming from U.S. shoppers.

“The company should benefit from a favorable macro environment, including the ongoing shift toward online, strong discretionary demand, a larger global Prime member base, a wider product assortment, particularly private brands, and an increase in participation by small businesses,” Feldman wrote in an analyst’s note.

For some products, Amazon didn’t bother waiting for Prime Day to start cutting prices, with discount the deals on its Amazon-branded products and other merchandise.

The company also recruited entertainers Kristen Bell, Mindy Kaling and Karamo Brown to curate lists of products from smaller retailers selling on Amazon, and consumers who spend $10 with a small business on Amazon through June 20 will receive a $10 credit to spend on Prime Day.

Not So Friendly Competition: A few of Amazon’s rivals are going up against the e-commerce giants with discount sales of their own.

Best Buy Co. Inc. BBY has been hosting its “Bigger Deal Sales Event” since June 15 and will keep the discounts in place through June 22. Target Corporation TGT is hosting its “Deal Days Sale” from June 20-22, promising the "biggest digital sale of the summer" with "hundreds of thousands" of discounts.

Walmart Inc. WMT will host its “Deals for Days” shopping event from June 20-23 in both its retail outlets and e-commerce site, with the promise of Black Friday-like savings." And Kohl’s Corporation KSS is hosting its “WOW Deals” event that runs June 21-22, with the promise of “epic savings on hundreds of products.”

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(Illustration by Tumisu / Pixabay.)