Amazon doing a second Prime Day this year, featuring hundreds of thousands of holiday deals

The global online retailer Amazon yesterday announced that it would hold its annual Prime Day sale for a second time this year to provide the best deals for customers who are dealing with tighter budgets.

Members of Amazon Prime will have early access to discounted products during the event on October 11 and 12. Following Amazon’s yearly Prime Day in July, there is a “Prime Early Access Sale.”

Make sure you’re an Amazon Prime member, without Prime membership, you won’t see and buy products at a discounted price, so Join Prime at $14.99/month (or $139 annually), or Sign Up for the Amazon Prime Free Trial for 30-days (It’s free for first 30-days), or if you’re a student the enjoy Prime Student for 6 months at no cost, then $7.49/month (or $69 annually) and that’s the half the price of standard Prime subscription.

This kind of sales event has long been used by the Seattle-based e-commerce company to convince customers to sign up for its Prime membership, which costs $139 a year and promises fast shipping and better deals. But the event in October will mark the first time it has held a big sales drive twice in a single year.

Recently, Amazon’s retail business had slowed down. Also, the price war indicates that companies are realizing the need to offer more discounts to consumers who are struggling with inflation during the next holiday shopping season.

“What Amazon wants to do is be part of that early crowd and get a bite of the cherry,” said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail. “And the best way to do that is, rather than having little deals here and there, is to have a big day that’s almost like a holiday kickoff.”

Jamil Ghani, vice president of Amazon Prime, said the company will offer deals on digital items and products that are “particularly relevant for the holiday season,” as opposed to its Prime Day event in July, which, for example, focused on back-to-school items. He declined to say whether a fall discount event will be a permanent fixture for Amazon going forward.

“We’re just focused on having a great event this year,” he said. “I can’t say what’s going to happen in the future, we aren’t really thinking about it.”