Amazon to hold Prime Day event on Oct 13-14, aiming at holiday shoppers

Amazon.com Inc said on Monday it would hold its annual shopping event, Prime Day, on Oct. 13 and 14 as the e-commerce giant aims for an early kickstart to the holiday season.

The company earlier this year had postponed the two-day shopping event, which started in 2015 to drum up sales during the summer shopping lull, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"It's a wait and see moment for how the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing economic decline will impact retail sales this shopping season," said Matt Fox, founder of Ithaca Wealth Management."

The October Prime Day event is close enough in people's minds that Christmas is right around the corner, compared to the usually July date of the event, therefore, expect more holiday shopping purchases to occur this year, lengthening the holiday shopping season from October to end of December." Amazon said it is investing an additional $100 million in special Prime Day and holiday promotional programs.

The Seattle-based company is on an expansion spree on the back of a meteoric rise in its business, thanks to a surge in online orders during coronavirus-induced lockdowns, which helped it post its biggest-ever quarterly profit in 26 years in July.

The company does not disclose revenue from the event, but had said that merchants contributed to $2 billion in sales during Prime Day in 2019, which spanned for 48 hours and 18 countries.

Amazon's stock, which has surged about 70 per cent this year, was up about 2.3 per cent at $3,165.04 in afternoon trade on Monday.