For years, Amazon has pitched its annual Prime Day shopping extravaganza as “Black Friday in July,” a concoction designed to juice up sales during the summer shopping lull. But with online shopping hitting new sales records during the pandemic, there was no lull this year, prompting Amazon to bump Prime Day from July to two days next week.
The seemingly minor decision could have big implications for how the key holiday shopping season plays out, analysts and sellers tell The Information. For Amazon, it is likely to mean that the season will start more than a month earlier than it normally does, which could avert a meltdown of its fulfillment network as the holidays near. At the same time, other retailers have announced sales events around the same time as Amazon’s, which could help them avoid the health risks of packed stores later in the season.
