Dive Brief:

• Amazon Prime Day probably will be happening soon, but a Market Track report says product prices on average are likely to be lower on Black Friday this November.
• Amazon Prime Day is widely seen as a promotion to get users to sign up for Prime memberships, and Amazon said it added more new Prime members during last July's event than on any other day. Amazon also said it sold more products on its first Prime Day than on any previous Black Friday.
• Cowen and Co. earlier this year estimated that about 44 million U.S. households subscribe to Prime, a year-over-year increase of about 33%.

Dive Insight:

Amazom Prime Day was in July last year, and it is not yet clear when this year's promotional event will be held, though most guesses center around mid-July. The big question: Can it be just as successful—or maybe even more successful—than it was last year?

Last year, Amazon reported that Prime Day sales were 18% higher than sales on the previous year's Black Friday event. That and its success as a promotion to sign up new Prime members guaranteed that it would be back.

Does it matter that Market Track, when surveying prices on 380 different products, found that the products were priced an average of 9% lower on Black Friday than they were on Amazon Prime Day? Does it matter that it was also popular sport on social media to complain about product selection during last year's Prime Day event? Does it matter that prices on some products dropped lower after the event than they had been during the sale?

None of this matters, apparently. Even Market Track said it was not surprised by its own findings.

What matters is that the event got everyone talking, and then showing up, at least to check out the deals. It carried the whiff of exclusivity, with deals only open to Prime members, but convinced a high number of people to become part of that club. Plus, the timing may have been more brilliant than the idea itself, as Prime Day was positioned on the calendar far away from Black Friday and other holiday-related sales, and actually turned retail's mid-summer dead zone into an e-commerce attraction.

Events like Amazon Prime Day and Alibaba's Singles Day are paving a new path for retailers, showing them you don't need a holiday to have a a big sales event. The event is the holiday.