As Amazon’s Prime Day prepares to celebrate its 10th go-around, Macy’s has decided to join the crowd, offering its first-ever “All Star Week.” Like Prime Day, Macy’s event includes plenty of deals and exclusive offers, showering shoppers with free membership perks.
It’s the latest example of how Amazon Prime Day is shifting behaviors. Consumers now shop differently, often making back-to-school and holiday purchases much earlier: The National Retail Federation says 55% of consumers have already begun their back-to-school shopping.
This means that Amazon, in effect, continues to dictate its competitors’ promotional calendars. Macy’s event, which ends July 23, will come just after Target’s Circle Week, which ends on July 13, and summer sales events from Walmart and Kohl’s, both ending July 11.
advertisement
advertisement
Loyalty is a critical component of Macy’s deals, with customers tripling reward points in certain categories and earning 10 times the points on some brands, including private labels and national names like Levi’s, Melissa & Doug, Dolce & Gabbana and Nespresso.
Amazon is also offering a sneak peek at the strategy for its 10th Prime Day event, starting July 16. It is promising five million deals, including summer products like Supergoop!, Oakley, and Sun Bum, and back-to-school deals from Sony, Coach, Keurig and New Balance. As it has done in the past, the ecommerce giant is also offering Back to School and Off to College shopping guides.
The impact of so many deals coming at consumers is shifting the way people plan, with research from Numerator predicting that 40% of U.S. consumers will take advantage of Amazon Prime Day this year. It says in 2023, the July sales events overlapped for Amazon, Walmart and Target, lifting omnichannel traffic by 11% overall compared to the average week. And 40% of shoppers participated in at least one of those sales.
Amazon benefited the most from its July Prime Day event, with consumables doing especially well. Temptations Cat Food and Liquid IV were the second and fourth most purchased items.
Target and Walmart saw better traffic and sales with their October Circle Week and Holiday Kickoff events, respectively.