For the first time in its history, Amazon is doubling the number of days its running its Prime Day event for, from two to four
Running from July 8 to July 11, this year will see the four-day event slash prices for Prime members on a range of products from health and personal care, books, back-to-school supplies, food and high-end brands like as Apple and Shark.
This year’s extended run hopes to beat records set last year. Over a 48-hour period in 2024, consumers around the globe spent $14.2bn (£10.4bn) and UK shoppers contributed £1.3bn to that total.
As the online behemoth gears up for its biggest Prime Day yet spanning across 26 countries, it now has to compete with fast-growing year-round low price retailers, such as Temu and AliExpress as well as TikTok Shop’s ‘Deals For You Days’ running for 12 days in the US.
Now entering its 11th year, will doubling the amount of discounted days be enough to keep shoppers from looking elsewhere?
Hit or miss?
It has been established as a major shopping event in the retail calendar for years now, but Amazon has to keep its Prime Day fresh and exciting for its millions of customers. Its latest effort not only includes running it for four days but an entirely new element.
“Today’s Big Deals” features daily themed deal drops with deep discounts across brands such as Samsung, Levi’s and Kiehl’s – dialling up the pressure to purchase by making them available for a very limited time.
For Katie Thomas, lead at management consulting firm Kearney Consumer Institute, she says longer sales give opportunity to experiment with different events and promotions such as the new daily deals, but that it could risk “gambling against their own psychology playbook”.
“Our research shows the number one reason consumers shop on Prime Day is to treat themselves,” she says.
“The magic of Prime Day has been that the ‘treat yourself’ permission slip is fueled by urgency and fear of missing out, which will be diminished with a 4-day window.”
Amazon previously experimented with a longer Prime Day window, upping it from one day to two days as of 2019, where it remained permanent until this year.
Retail technology consultant Miya Knights doesn’t think double the days means double the revenue, but thinks Amazon will grow its spend on last year by a considerable amount.
“It’s such a successful event so it makes sense to hold it for longer,” she says.
“It’s a no-brainer that Amazon would want to try and double their success, and the event is a driver for shoppers to sign up to Prime.
“If you’re not already a Prime member, this is very attractive and proving successful in recruiting members.”
In fact, Amazon itself said “record-breaking numbers” of customers signed up for Prime in the three weeks leading up to Prime Day in 2024, with “millions of new members worldwide”.
Tariffs and TikTok
Coinciding with this year’s Prime event is the expiration of the 90-day pause on US import tariffs by president Donald Trump, which is certain to cause further volatility across international markets.
While Prime Day does usually fall in July, Sue Azari, industry lead at mobile analytics firm Apps Flyer said Amazon’s timing of the event could bring more spend.
“Amidst rising prices, consumers are increasingly deal-hungry and cautious,” she says.
“With tariffs set to resume July 9, Amazon is racing the clock, both to reassure consumers and to get ahead of potential cost shocks.
She explains that Amazon’s strategy reflects what she is seeing across other retailers, a push towards earlier seasonable engagement and creating an event-based urgency that customers can’t resist.
It’s not just tariffs and wider economic headwinds Amazon has to contend with. More retailers are offering promotions and discounts outside of the typical Black Friday period.
“TikTok has significantly ramped up its in-app shopping initiatives,” Azari adds.
“The platform recently launched new in-stream shopping promotions in the US, offering discounts across thousands of trending products from major brands like Phillips, Dyson, and Elf Cosmetics.”
She says it forms part of TikTok’s strategy to match the success of its Chinese counterpart, Douyin, where it has seen in-app sales drive significant revenue.
Knights also takes this view, explaining that Amazon has created a halo effect as more retailers are holding similar events to compete with Prime.
“Consumers are becoming aware that there are more discounts and deals around the same time elsewhere, so I think they’ll do some shopping around,” she says.
“It will probably drive a lot more promotional activity across the board.”
Price takes priority
Prime has seen meteoric success and essentially created its own Black Friday in the summer, but in an ever-evolving sector where Amazon is being challenged by low-price Chinese players and social platforms, Knights says it all comes down to price.
She takes the view that customers will almost always be led by the cost of an item when shopping, with promotions or rewards next in line.
“If you can’t beat your competitor on price, then offer the customer a good deal or at least reward them for their custom,” she says, “Amazon’s got all of this sewn up with its Prime membership.”
This combination will be sought after by shoppers keen to access discounts and deals during the back-to-school season.
“I think it shows that consumers are not only driven by price and promotions, but they are really thinking ahead about any considered purchases and conducting price comparisons.”
But for Prime Day to continue its mammoth success, Thomas concludes that eventually, consumers will be tired of constant sales and promotional noise.
“Amazon could reconsider what made Prime Day work originally – exclusive access, genuine scarcity and products/deals you can’t get anywhere else.”
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