DISCUSSION
Did Amazon just ‘turn up the heat’ on rivals with its Prime Day announcement?
Written by George Anderson
Source: Amazon
It turns out 36 hours simply isn’t enough time for Prime Day. Amazon.com has announced that it will hold the sales promotion event for not one, not one-and-a-half, but two days this year.
The event, which will begin at midnight Pacific time on Monday July 15, will offer Amazon Prime members limited-time offers on a wide variety of goods. As in the past, people who are not Prime members can sign up for a free, 30-day trial membership to get in on the deals.
“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,” said Jeff Wilke, Amazon CEO Worldwide Consumer, in a statement.
As part of Prime Day celebrations, Amazon plans to offer special deals at its Whole Foods locations. Mr. Wilke also promised “thousands of new product launches” and entertainment to bring more attention to the annual event.
In a press release to announce Prime Day, Amazon emphasized its continuing shift to one-day delivery for members.
"Amazon's announcement that its annual Prime Day promotion now requires 'pluralizing' as it will be two days this year, running July 15 and 16, following 2018's 36 hour 'day', will make an already acutely-competitive retail environment even tougher," said Charlie O'Shea, vice president of Moody's, in an email to RetailWire.
"This is yet another example of the flexibility Amazon has to push the pricing envelope, in this case to broaden and deepen the benefits to Prime members, which creates a conundrum for all retailers, with the smaller, financially weaker retailers the most at risk," said Mr. O’Shea. "Making this even tougher, Walmart and Target will react, further turning up the competitive heat."