Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Day sale launched on Monday, July 16, with broken landing pages and add-to-cart errors—much to the frustration of many shoppers.
Still, the web giant managed to drum up quite a bit of sales, especially on its highly discounted Amazon devices. Amazon said sales in the first 10 hours of Prime Day grew at a faster pace than the same period of the event in 2017. The retail giant said it sold millions of devices that work on the Alexa voice-activated platform, with top-sellers including the Fire TV Stick streaming device with an Alexa Voice remote and the Echo Dot voice-activated speaker.
Some of Amazon’s deals, compiled by price optimization vendor Boomerang Commerce, include 30% off home services, $50 off home security items, 30% off 53 of its AmazonBasics items, 30% off furniture and decor, up to 50% off fashion, as well as 10-20% back from select items if the shopper paid with an Amazon card.
But Amazon, No. 1 in the Internet Retailer 2018 Top 500, isn’t the only viable shopping option in the days leading up to Prime Day and on July 16-17. Retailers were ready to entice shoppers with their own sales in the same vein as Prime Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Some retailers used Amazon’s technology problems and capitalized on the social media backlash with #PrimeDayFail as an opportunity to promote themselves. Retailers also used Amazon’s required membership fees as a way to dig at the online retail giant and promote their own brand without membership fees.
Office Depot Inc. (No. 14), for example, tweeted that its deals were available and alluded to Amazon’s error pages that display dogs.
“This is the first year where Prime Day is spreading widely to other e-retailers and officially becoming an industry-wide event, sort of like a new version of Cyber Monday. This year, we’re seeing numerous other players actively promoting sales to try to carve out their own slice of the event,” says Mihir Kittur, chief commercial officer at analytics firm Ugam. “We’re seeing that [Prime Day is] affecting consumer behavior in a pretty significant way, and so it makes sense for competing retailers to ride the wave and try to attract some of the ‘overflow’ e-commerce traffic, even if the deals they offer may cut somewhat into margins.”
Here are some of the retailers capitalizing on Prime Day:
Walmart’s competing Prime Day offer.
- Walmart Inc. (No. 3): The retail giant is promoting “huge savings with Ultimate Summer Specials. No membership fees with free 2-day shipping.” But the free two-day shipping requires a minimum purchase of $35. It’s no surprise Walmart again wants to capture July sales, as traffic to its site increased to 400.8 million visits July 2017, compared with 363.7 million in June and 361.4 million in August 2017, according to web measurement firm SimilarWeb. Information for July 2018 web traffic is not yet available.
- Macy’s Inc. (No. 6): Macy’s Black Friday in July sale runs July 9-15, featuring discounts of up to 50%. The sale includes women’s clothing, men’s clothing, shoes, juniors’ clothing and kids’ clothing. It is promoting free shipping on everything on July 17, along with an extra 25% off or extra 15% off select departments. Macy’s also saw an increase in traffic last year, with 61.3 million visits in July compared with 58.5 million in June and 56.4 million in August, according to SimilarWeb.
- Bluemercury.com: The beauty retailer owned by Macy’s is reaching consumers by promoting its sales as “Better than Prime.” It’s also offering free overnight shipping.
- Express Inc. (No. 97): The apparel retailer is celebrating “Express Day” by offering 40% off everything in store and online, along with free shipping on all orders from July 17-18 until 2:59 a.m. EST.
- LuLu’s Fashion Lounge Inc. (No. 244): The women’s apparel retailer is offering 30% off select items and free express shipping for Prime members when they login with their Amazon account and pay with Amazon Pay.
- Groupon (No. 41): The deals retailer is offering “Cyber Sales in July,” to save up to 80% off activities, dining, massages and more.
Michael’s Prime Day offer.
- Michael’s: The crafts retailer is promoting a “Summer Cyber Sale” with free shipping and no minimum for orders—as well as celebrating that it has no membership fees. “Yay!”
- The Children’s Place (No. 113): The children’s apparel retailer sent an email with the subject line “Prime savings!” that included 60% off all apparel with no exclusions and free shipping.
- Brooks Brothers (No. 161): The men’s apparel retailer is offering sales in stores and online July 17, along with free shipping on all online orders with no purchase minimum.
ProFlowers’ Prime Day deal.
- ProFlowers: The flower retailer shared an email with the subject line: “Double the roses with a FREE upgrade during Black Friday in July!” Its “Black Friday” sale lasts for three days and ends on July 18. ProFlowers is owned by FTD, No. 138 in the Top 500.
- Winc: The subscription wine retailer sent an email with the subject line: “Prime (time) to be a Winc member.” It’s offering memberships for $23 off for July 17, along with complimentary shipping on four bottle orders.
- Sur la Table Inc. (No. 269): The cookware retailer sent an email about its 48-hour sale, with items up to 70% off, and free shipping on all orders.
- The Walking Company Holdings Inc. (No. 301): “It’s Prime Time to Save on Sandals and More!” The retailer is offering a two-day “flash” sale and free shipping.
- Petco Animal Supplies Inc. (No. 110): The pet retailer is calling its sales “Black Friday in July” through July 17. Shoppers can receive a $15 e-gift card, up to 65% off items site-wide and free shipping on orders of $75+.
- Woot: “We’re having a Prime Day Woot-Off,” the retailer says. It’s offering “fresh deals every 30 minutes,” and free shipping for Prime members.
- Jewelry Television (No. 240): The jewelry retailer is having a “Prime jewelry day flash sale,” offering an extra 10% off and free shipping on orders of $49 or more.
- Old Navy: For 24 hours on July 16, Old Navy offered free shipping with no minimum and “cray cray savings.” Old Navy is owned by Gap Inc., No. 20 in the Top 500.
- Zulily wants to capture sales the week following Prime Day with its “Thrill Week,” where it will be releasing one daily “Big Thrill” and other time-limited “Dashes for the Deal.”
Despite all the other retailers vying for shopper dollars, Internet Retailer projects Amazon will generate $4.04 billion in sales globally during the 36-hour Prime Day promotion, up 67% from the 30-hour sale last year.
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