Just like pumpkin spice season now begins in August and holiday music can be heard in some stores as early as October, “last chance” sales are also a year-round phenomenon.
Traditionally, every year has had two main shopping days: Cyber Monday in November and Amazon (AMZN) Prime Minister in July.
Created in 2015 to celebrate the retail giant’s 20th birthday, Prime Day has turned into an annual event in which those with Amazon’s paid subscription service receive two-day discounts on many popular brands and on-demand items.
The event is very popular, and according to Amazon, Prime members purchase more than 100,000 items per minute during Prime Day on July 12 and 13. One of the most popular items was the Apple Watch Series 7. (AAPL) And beauty products for Langes and Novis and Le Croisy cookware.
Amazon Prime, take two
For years, Prime Day has been marketed as a once-a-year opportunity, but this year, Amazon announced that it would be hosting a “Prime Early Access Sale” on October 11-12.
The fall shopping event is available in the US and 14 other countries such as the UK, Canada, France and Australia, and will feature similar discounts.
Just as with regular Prime Day, those with an Amazon Prime subscription service will see discounts on electronics, appliances, beauty, and other popular products when they check in.
Many shoppers specifically wait for these sales to purchase more expensive items such as electronics, kitchen appliances, and other large items for the home.
“These days, people don’t miss out on trying to increase the dollar,” Deputy Prime Minister Jamil Ghani told CNBC.
The date of October is important for several reasons. Due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, the usual Prime Day timing for July has been moved to October in 2020.
October has also, in recent years, begun to mark the beginning of holiday shopping—that is, when the most organized buyers start looking for deals to put under the tree in December.
Since inflation has reduced discretionary spending for many people, some retailers have used “Sale Days” and other promotions to entice people to shop. Second Prime Day announced after competitors like Walmart (WMT) And the goal (TGT) They announced their own sales in early October.
Is it sale season all the time now?
The transformation of retail to the earliest and oldest shopping season has been happening for decades. While stores previously only lowered their merchandise after Christmas, Black Friday began emerging as a shopping day in the 1950s.
In the past decade, Black Friday has also transformed from a one-day mall rush (remember those viral images of people flirting with each other on Walmart TVs?) into a weekend-long event that increasingly travels online.
Whether discounts really offer bargains or retailers use them to create a look that’s still cheap, consumers are increasingly turning to sales when money is tight.
After the consumer price index reached a 40-year high of 9.1% in June, many are finding that gradually increasing costs are undermining what they can afford.
A recent study by Bankrate found that 84% of holiday shoppers this year are looking to save money. 40% plan to buy fewer items, 21% are looking for cheaper brands and 41% say they are looking for coupons, sales and other discounts – an excellent opportunity for retailers to sweep up additional “sales days.”
“Consumers will begin holiday shopping earlier this year as they look to spread out costs at a time when household incomes are lower,” Neil Saunders, retail analyst and managing director at GlobalData Retail, told CNN Business.
