Would an Amazon Shift of Prime Day to June Be a Good Move?

Amazon certainly isn't afraid to make alterations to its banner Prime Day sale (perhaps more appropriately termed Prime Days nowadays, given that it spans four days), and it looks like another switch might be in the cards for the mega-retailer.

Per Bloomberg reporting, anonymous sources familiar with the matter indicate that Amazon is planning to move Prime Day ahead in terms of scheduling, kicking off in June rather than its current start point of mid-July.

"The change will affect both Amazon and its constellation of third-party vendors, which count on the discounting surge to attract shoppers. Since Amazon captures about 40 cents of every dollar spent online, the timing of Prime Day is also closely watched by competitors, which look to draft off of the promotions and web traffic," Bloomberg's Spencer Soper and Jaewon Kang wrote.

There are a few hypothetical reasons offered up for this switch in sales strategy:

• First, Amazon may be looking to get ahead of ever-earlier back-to-school spend, as consumers continually seek to land deals ahead of the busy BTS season. In a retail era in which front-loading of goods appears to be taking place on both the consumer side and retailer side of the equation, pushing Prime Day ahead to get those parents/guardians locked in ahead of competitors could be a savvy play.
• Also, competitors may be digging in on Amazon's established position. As Soper and Kang underscored, Walmart and Target also run significant sales events concurrently to Prime Day currently, and Amazon could be looking to disengage itself from other retailers and stake a new (and earlier) claim to discretionary income during the summer period.

In response to Kang's post on LinkedIn regarding the matter, consultant Kevin Foo offered up some further analysis.

"Intended or not, this may be the biggest gift Amazon could give sellers this year. Aligning Prime Day with the 618 promotion cycle [a significant Chinese e-comm sales cycle] reduces the need to stretch inventory, discounts, and marketing across both June and July," Foo wrote.

"For many merchants, that operational relief is worth more than any discount or incentive Amazon could offer," he added.