Amazon says this year’s Prime Day
will be its biggest yet, with a 30-hour day kicking off at 6 p.m. on July 10. This will mark the third year the Seattle-based company has organized the massive promotion, which will include hundreds
of thousands of deals. Last year’s Prime Day barreled past Black Friday to become the online retailer’s biggest sales day ever, and even powered a significant bump in its stock price.
Market Track, a Chicago-based research company, predicts this Prime Day will be even bigger, with 58% of consumers in its survey saying they plan to shop Prime Day sales, up from 34%
last year.
"Competing retailers have learned a lot about Prime Day over the past two years, yet the event is very much still in its youth,” says Ryne Misso, director of
marketing at Market Track, in its report. For competitors, “putting in place a strategy to draw consumer attention away from Amazon during the event will require visibility into not only the
online space but also in-store pricing and discounts.”
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Amazon says that in addition to the six-hour expansion, it’s also adding deals in China, India and Mexico,
bringing the event to 13 countries. New offers are scheduled to crop up as frequently as every five minutes, organized into 20 themes, such as pet lovers, tech or gardening.
It’s also expanding voice-shopping options, with more Alexa-exclusive deals, as well as deal watching on its Amazon App.
The promotion is meant to lure people
into buying a Prime membership, which cost $99 per year or $10.99 per month, as well as to encourage those who are already Prime members to spend more in its ancillary services. Leading up to the big
day, for example, its offering members a special on Amazon Music Unlimited for just $0.99 a month; rewarding members who stream video for the first time a $10 credit, and cutting 40% off its
Kindle Unlimited membership.
Amazon has long kept the specifics of its Prime membership base a secret. But observers estimate anywhere from 65 to 80 million people belong.