Dive Brief:
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Amazon on Tuesday announced that its 2019 Prime Day will commence July 15 and last 48 hours, the longest yet, according to a company press release. Shoppers without a Prime membership can start a 30-day free trial to participate in the sale.
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Prime members in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Singapore, Netherlands, Mexico, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, India, Germany, France, China, Canada, Belgium, Austria, Australia and United Arab Emirates can shop the sale, according to the release.
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The "biggest Prime Day deals ever" will be found on Alexa-enabled devices, and Whole Foods Market will host exclusive savings, according to the release. Some discounts slated for Prime Day have already begun, including $120 savings on the Toshiba HD 43-inch Fire TV Edition Smart TV, which began Tuesday and runs through June 30 or while supplies last.
Dive Insight:
Amazon's Prime Day hullabaloo last year hit a major snag, with glitches that stymied shoppers from exploring deals just as they got going.
That won't be easily forgotten this year, though many of the day's deals are likely to be too good to resist, according to Tim de Paris, CTO at digital experience firm Decibel. But consumers' willingness to get past their poor experience last year shouldn't lead the e-commerce giant to become complacent, he also said in comments emailed to Retail Dive.
"While Amazon may have learned its lesson after the last crash and will likely put technical support in place to avoid the same fate in 2019, the retail behemoth should consider going beyond simply keeping the lights on," he said. "Data that shows how customers interact on the platform and how they feel about those experiences — data that goes beyond traditional metrics like abandoned cart rates and results of A/B testing — gathered on Prime Day would fuel Amazon's ability to optimize future engagements, ultimately resulting in better conversion rates for Prime Day sign ups and website purchases."
One change that should result in such happy returns is Amazon's extension of the "day," Moody's Investors Service Vice President Charlie O'Shea said in comments emailed to Retail Dive, noting that expanding to 48 hours from last year's 36 "will make an already acutely-competitive retail environment even tougher."
The timing may also allow Amazon to grab some extra back-to-school share, according to a report from RetailMeNot. An impressive 84% of retailers told the coupon site that the week surrounding Prime Day is the most important time for driving online back-to-school sales. Parents have budgeted about $162 for their Amazon Prime Day spending, according to the report.
"This is yet another example of the flexibility Amazon has to push the pricing envelope, in this case to broaden and deepen the benefits to Prime members, which creates a conundrum for all retailers, with the smaller, financially weaker retailers the most at risk," Moody's O'Shea said. "Making this even tougher, Walmart and Target will react, further turning up the competitive heat. A hot summer just got much hotter."
