Will Amazon’s October Event Boost Sales or Dilute the Brand?

Amazon will host a shopping holiday in October for the second year in a row in a bid to capture additional pre-holiday sales. Prime Big Deal Days will launch during an unspecified period with special deals in 19 countries as Amazon seeks to position its own promotions as the gateway into the holiday season.

The announcement comes off a successful Prime Day, including the single-largest sales day in Amazon’s history on July 11. Amazon doesn’t provide exact sales data, but the company noted that it sold more than 375 million items to Prime members during the two-day event.

The fall version may be more subdued in comparison. Last year’s October shopping holiday, which was dubbed Prime Early Access Sale, failed to reach the heights of the main Prime Day event, according to CNBC. The e-commerce giant drove in $5.7 billion in revenue during the Prime Early Access Sale, compared to $7.5 billion for Prime Day, according to data from Bank of America. However, some analysts noted that Amazon still experienced heightened sales volumes compared to a typical October day.

Where the second Prime Day did succeed was in getting a head start on the holiday season. Almost one-third (31%) of Prime Early Access shoppers made holiday purchases during the sale, up from 11% of Prime Day shoppers, according to data from Numerator. Additionally, 14% of these consumers said they completed all or most of their holiday shopping with their Early Access purchases.

This year, Amazon could be aiming to get an early head start for what some analysts are predicting to be a dreary holiday season after student loan payments suspended during COVID resume, according to data from Earnest. A CNBC survey also noted that two-thirds of retail executives expect shoppers to search for sales. Locking sales in early, with potentially deep discounts, could ensure that Amazon captures a large share of a limited spending pool.

The additional shopping holiday could also provide an opportunity for third-party retailers that sell through the Amazon marketplace. Merchants that use Buy with Prime saw, in total, eight times the daily revenue from those orders during Prime Early Access compared to the month before Amazon announced Prime Day 2022.

The risk that remains is that a second shopping holiday could dilute Prime Day by reducing the urgency of the larger festival. However, this didn’t seem to play out last year, given the success of Prime Day 2023. Another possibility is that Amazon’s October event eats into Cyber Week sales, which could deflate another of the most important periods for e-commerce. However, Adobe Analytics reported a record-setting $11.3 billion in sales during Cyber Monday 2022 — a sign that shoppers will open their wallets for multiple sale events.