Amazon’s Prime Day is back on Monday July 15 — but now the discount frenzy will last a whole two days.
The expansion of the so-called day of deals and discounts for Amazon Prime subscribers builds on last year’s growth, which saw Prime Day last 36 hours in total.
This will be the fifth iteration of the annual event for the online retailer, who has boasted that the event will feature more than a million deals all over the globe.
Amazon’s Prime Day is back on Monday July 15 — but now the discount frenzy will confusingly last a whole two days
Prime Day this year will begin at midnight on July 15, 2019.
The artificial holiday will see free one-day shipping with no minimum purchase limit available to members for the first time.
As the shopping holiday looms, the retailer has already put some products on special offer — including Toshiba television sets — CNN has reported.
Among other discounts expected are considerable markdowns on all Amazon Alexa-enabled devices, with further offers and new product launches to be revealed in the run-up to the event.
‘Get ready, as we pull back the curtain to reveal exclusive products, special performances and two full days of phenomenal deals this Prime Day,” said Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon Worldwide Consumer.
‘Our vision is that Prime Day should be the absolute best time to be a member — when you can enjoy shopping, savings, entertainment and some of the best deals Prime members have ever seen,’ he added.
‘Stay tuned as we reveal exclusive savings at Whole Foods Market, thousands of new product launches, as well as world-class entertainment and more, leading up to Prime Day on July 15 and 16.’
Prime Day 2018 was in fact so popular that the retail site was initially unable to handle the volume of traffic it was receiving, forcing Amazon to temporarily cut international visits until additional servers could be installed to handle the load
Amazon held its first Prime Day during July 2015, in celebration of the online retailer’s 20th anniversary.
The event was intended to serve as a version of Black Friday for Amazon users.
Since its inaugural Prime Day, the event has become an annual feature that allows the firm to flex its muscles amid the retail market.
While Amazon keeps its Prime Day revenue figures secret, the firm did disclose last year that the discount-laden day was its ‘biggest global shopping event ever’.
Prime Day 2018 was in fact so popular that the retail site was initially unable to handle the volume of traffic it was receiving, forcing Amazon to temporarily cut international visits until additional servers could be installed to handle the load.
According to global payments provider Payoneer, marketplaces other than Amazon generally see a bit of a decline in sales during the summer months, with 2018 seeing an average drop of 4 per cent in sales around July.
However, there was a 30% increase in sales on Amazon during Prime Day 2018 and the month that followed.
The expansion of the so-called day of deals and discounts builds on last year’s growth, which saw Prime Day last 36 hours in total
The event also allows Amazon to draw attention to its own products and encourage users to subscribe to Amazon Prime, the premium shopping, delivery and streaming media service that is currently used by more than 100 million people worldwide.
The online retailer has recently upgraded the features of Amazon Prime, expanding the range of items for which free next-day delivery is available to more than 10 million different products.
In response to Amazon’s Prime Day, other retailers have begun to deliver promotional periods of their own.
American department store chain Nordstrom, for example, will be launching a two-week-long so-called ‘anniversary sale’ beginning on July 19, it announced on June 24, with discounts planned for such brands as Topshop and Madewell.