Amazon, the latest big retailer to offer Christmas offers early this year to tempt cautious shoppers dealing with tighter budgets, said on Monday that it would stage a second Prime Day-like shopping event the following month.
Members of Amazon Prime will get early access to discounted goods during the event on October 11 and 12. Following Amazon’s annual Prime Day in July, there is a “Prime Early Access Sale.”
These kind of sales events have long been utilized by the Seattle-based e-commerce behemoth to get customers to sign up for its Prime membership, which costs $139 a year and promises quicker delivery and greater prices. However, the event in October will be the first time it has held a significant sales push twice in a year.
Recently, Amazon’s retail operations has slowed significantly. The inclusion of the October shopping extravaganza indicates that the corporation has realized the necessity to provide greater discounts to people affected by inflation during what is anticipated to be a difficult Christmas shopping season for shops.
To keep up with Americans who are feeling the pressure of skyrocketing inflation, Walmart and Target said last week that they will start giving promotions and price-matching offers earlier this year.
In accordance with last year, Target said that it would start promoting Christmas bargains in early October and that it would recruit up to 100,000 seasonal workers for its stores and delivery facilities for the coming season. In the meanwhile, Walmart is extending the return period for gifts from November 1 through January 24 to October 1 through January 31.
“Holiday start”
The early adopters want to “get a piece of the cherry,” according to Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail. “And the easiest way to achieve it is to have a huge day that’s almost like a holiday start, rather than having tiny offers here and there.”
For the second consecutive year, shoppers are anticipated to start their Christmas shopping earlier this year. Americans began their holiday shopping early last year to avoid supply-chain hiccups that delayed shipments. According to economists, many frugal shoppers may follow suit this year in an effort to spread out their expenditures and get presents before costs increase later.
Vice President of Amazon Prime Jamil Ghani said that in contrast to its Prime Day event in July, which, for example, concentrated on back-to-school items, the business would give discounts on digital goods and products that are “especially important for the Christmas season.” He would not comment on whether future Amazon events including discounts would always take place in the autumn.
We just want to have a fantastic event this year, Ghani remarked. I am unable to predict the future since we haven’t given it any thought.