Amazon is moving its annual mid-summer Prime Day shopping bonanza until at least October, according to numerous published reports. No exact date has been given, but Business Insider reported that Amazon told one retailer to expect the event to be held around Oct. 5.
The news outlet quoted what it said was a leaked Amazon email to a supplier as stating: “Every year, Prime Day is a huge hit with customers, who enjoy some of the best deals of the year. A definitive date will be announced as we get closer to the event.”
The Seattle-based online behemoth already twice rescheduled the event from a previously planned July date.
The new change to October is “final,” a separate Amazon email states, according to Business Insider.
Various experts quoted in articles about the reschedulings have attributed the changes to Amazon’s need to deal with supply chain pressures resulting from COVID-19 and related closures. These can include not just work to get popular products to Amazon centers in time for sales-day demand, but also the need to focus on products that are in high demand due to COVID-19. In April, Amazon suspended sales of some items deemed nonessential to dedicate resources to products needed for the pandemic response.
Picking the right date for Prime Day also is a tricky exercise because anything much later than early October would push up against the holiday-driven demand surge.
Last year’s Prime Day was an enormous success, according to analysts. Per published reports, analysts estimated that Amazon’s 2019 Prime Day sales were up 53 percent from 2018.
Digital Commerce 360, citing official Amazon data, reported that during the two shopping days counted as 2019’s Prime Day, the eCommerce giant sold more than 175 million products compared with 100 million for the same two days the year before.
According to its website, Amazon has not yet officially set a date for this year’s Prime Day. Discounts provided through the event only are available to members of the company’s Amazon Prime service. Prime Day’s annual sales now exceed those of Black Friday and Cyber Monday events, according to Digital Commerce 360.