Amazon Prime Day started in 2015 and is actually a two-day event. Amazon raised its annual subscription for Prime membership in February to $139 a year from $119. The company last increased its price in 2018.
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Amazon Prime Day returns to July after two years of maneuvering around the pandemic forcing the online behemoth’s big sale into October in 2020 and June last year.
Expect other retailers to ride on the coattails of Amazon’s 48-hour event July 12-13 with their own specials. Retailers have swelling inventories of excess apparel, home goods including furniture, that were delayed by COVID 19-related supply chain issues.
The annual sale started in 2015 and has helped Amazon gain subscribers who since March are paying pay $139 a year, up from $119, for free shipping and other perks. Amazon says it has more than 200 million members around the world and says Prime Day is for them, but really anyone can participate. Amazon offers free trials for Prime membership related to the event and is doing that again this year.
Prime members can subscribe to alert notifications of items they recently viewed if prices drop or ask personal assistant Alexa to remind them. This year Alexa will even place orders for products already in a member’s cart, or save-for-later and wish lists.
Early deals started June 21 for Amazon devices such as Echo Show, Kindle Paperwhite and Fire tablets.
Amazon stock is also “on sale” after hitting a recent peak earlier this month right before at 20-for-1 stock split. Shares are trading just above $100 as uncertainties related to inflation and how consumers will continue to spend is hitting retail stocks.
TV discounting is back in a big way and among the pre-Prime Day deals starting at $89.99 for an Insignia 24-inch to $699.99 for a Toshiba 75-inch smart Fire TV. An Amazon Fire 55-inch smart TV is $284.99.
A layer of celebrities and games has been added to the event. Customers who shop with small businesses in Amazon’s marketplace earn chances to win prizes such as a pre-game experience and tickets to Super Bowl LVII or tickets to a New York screening of the upcoming “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” series that includes meeting the cast.
The 48-hour sales start at 3 a.m. ET on July 12.
In terms of revenue, Prime Day has grown to equal the big selling days around the holiday shopping season in November and December.
