Dive Brief:

• Amazon on Friday kicked off its Holiday Dash event, which boasts Black Friday-esque savings for customers in categories ranging from home and beauty to electronics and fashion. As part of the initiative, the retailer will feature new deals every day, the company said.

• The platform will offer deals throughout the holiday season from small businesses and notable brands, including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Nintendo and Ayesha Curry Cookware. Most items that ship through Dec. 31 can be returned until January 31, 2021.  

• To browse the deals available, Alexa users can ask, "Alexa, what are my deals?" or visit the Amazon app, per the company press release. 

Dive Insight:

The Holiday Dash event is meant to give customers access to Black Friday deals earlier this year, the company noted in its announcement. The move follows the retailer's release of its holiday gift guides ahead of Prime Day. 

Much of the retail space has put an emphasis around shopping earlier this holiday season to spread out foot traffic and avoid the crowds that are usually found on big shopping days like Black Friday. To that point, the National Retail Federation put out a campaign calling for consumers to shop earlier and take safety precautions this year, and retailers have joined their voices to that movement by pushing up holiday deals.

As Amazon spreads its own holiday deals beyond Black Friday, other retailers have followed suit. Last week, Walmart announced its "Black Friday Deals for Days" initiative, which offers consumers discounts over the course of three events in November. Meanwhile, Kohl's introduced its own Black Friday-style deals this month that will continue through December, stating that it would also launch "a new Black Friday Week shopping experience."

After moving the Prime Day sale back to mid-October, Amazon faced competition from rival retailers like Walmart and Target, which each rolled out similar sales events for the time period. Despite the encroaching competition, the retailer is likely to benefit from leading the early sales charge. However, the e-commerce giant has added $10 billion in new debt since June to support its expansion, and analysts are waiting to see whether the company can sustain its exponential growth over the long term.