Retailers are rolling out their own promotions to compete with Amazon.com Inc.’s third annual Prime Day, set for Tuesday, July 11.
J.C. Penney Co. Inc., No. 33 in the Internet Retailer 2017 Top 500, will bring back for a second time its online-only Penney Palooza sale, which will run July 10-11 to coincide with Prime Day, a spokeswoman says. As part of the promotion, J.C. Penney will reduce its free shipping threshold to $49 from $99, just as it did last year. The retail chain also will give shoppers who pay with a J.C. Penney credit card an additional 30% off their purchases.
Multichannel kitchen supply retailer Sur La Table Inc. (No. 245) set the date for its July 10 “Lime Day” sale before knowing Prime Day’s exact data, a spokeswoman says, but it clearly is squeezing some publicity from Amazon’s event with a sale that’s tagged “Get Primed for Lime Day.”
The Sur La Table sale, which the retailer calls Black Friday in July, features new items on its website from 6 a.m. through midnight July 10 and offers 75% off more than 350 online products. The lime theme extends into its store locations as well, as store employees will be dressed in lime-colored attire and shoppers can enjoy free lime slushies while shopping.
Amazon, meanwhile, is making a push to more actively engage Prime members in the week leading up to Prime Day.
Starting Wednesday, the retailer will feature new videos each day on a special section of its website designed to inform Prime members of what all their Prime membership includes. Amazon now has 80 million Prime members in the U.S., up 37.9% from 58 million last year, according to the most recent estimates from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP).
Prime Day kicks off at 9 p.m. Eastern on July 10 and will run for 30 hours.
FavoriteAmazon’s Prime Day drives shoppers to other retail sites too