Amazon’s second Prime Day sale will take place on 11-12. October
Workers pick up boxes at an Amazon fulfillment center on Prime Day in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., Monday, June 21, 2021.
Rachel Jessen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Amazon is hosting another Prime Day-style deal bonanza next month, marking the first time it will hold two such events in the same year.
The company said Monday that the event, which it calls the “Prime Early Access Sale,”[ads1]; will take place Oct. 11-12. The event is open only to members of Amazon’s Prime subscription program and will feature “hundreds of thousands” of holiday deals, Jamil Ghani, vice president of Prime, said in an interview.
CNBC previously reported that Amazon began contacting sellers about the event in June.
Prime Day, which started in 2015, is usually held once a year in the summer. But Amazon rescheduled the event in 2020 and 2021 as the Covid-19 pandemic strained operations. The company has also experimented with other discount events, such as a clothing sale, a pet-focused event and a fall beauty event.
Ghani declined to say whether Amazon plans to host more than one sales event for Prime members going forward.
By setting a deal event for October, Amazon is playing into a trend that has gained momentum in recent years. Major retailers have begun announcing promotions well in advance of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, in large part because more sales are moving online.
The new sales arrangement could help jumpstart holiday shopping early for Amazon as the company stares down slowing e-commerce sales and a host of economic challenges, including a potential recession, soaring inflation, rising interest rates and the excess expansion it undertook during the pandemic.
Holiday sales are expected to grow from last year, but much of the increase will likely be driven by higher prices, according to a Bain & Co. forecast. Shoppers are likely to be on the hunt for discounts more than usual as their wallets feel the strain.
“These days, it’s not lost on you or me that people are trying to make the dollar stretch,” Ghani said.
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