Prime Day is June 21-22, but Amazon is starting deals now

Dive Brief:

Amazon has scheduled Prime Day for June 21 and 22, with some special deals launching before then, executives said during a virtual press briefing on Monday. On day one as of midnight Pacific time, Prime members in 20 countries can participate; those without a membership can start a 30-day free trial.
The focus of the briefing was on marketplace sellers. Prime members who spend $10 with "select small businesses" on Amazon's marketplace will receive that amount in credit to use during the two-day sale, according to a follow-up press release. More than 300,000 third-party Amazon sellers are participating.
In many ways the sale starts immediately, with deals as of Wednesday on toys, home goods, the e-commerce giant's Fire TVs and other categories, as well as special offers on its premium music streaming and other services, according to a press release.

Dive Insight:

Prime Day is widely seen as a powerful way for Amazon to pull more global consumers into its Prime ecosystem, but rival retailers — and their customers — are increasingly also jumping on the sales event.

In fact, research from e-commerce analytics platform Profitero showed that consumers are as likely to shop for deals at other retailers as they are on Amazon. Outside of Amazon, Walmart, Target and Best Buy, in that order, are the top three companies getting attention from consumers on Prime Day, according to Profitero.

Further, Amazon's pricing algorithms will have to brace for significant competition, as 58% of consumers plan to price check Prime Day deals, Profitero also found. Evidence of inflation in some categories, especially electronics, housewares and apparel, has consumers extremely price conscious at the moment, and that is degrading loyalty, according to Profitero.

At least one retailer plans to hold its own big sale later in the summer. Nordstrom on Tuesday said its popular anniversary sale would take place July 28 through Aug. 8, featuring more than 100 brands new to it. The department store's website already features an anniversary sale page, with information on the sale including personalized shopping dates for loyalty members and other loyalty benefits, among other details.