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Business
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Borneo Bulletin, Monday July 15, 2019
WASHINGTON (AFP) - It started as a simple
sales promotion, but Amazon’s Prime Day
has nowmorphed into amajor phenomenon
joined by scores of retailers jockeying with
the United States (US) colossus for a bigger
slice of the e-commerce pie.
Amazon’s Prime Day, now in 17 countries,
will be held over Monday and Tuesday,
highlighted by a pre-recorded Taylor Swift
video concert and promotions across a
range of products and services from the
e-commerce leader.
Rival retailers including Walmart, Target
and eBay are offering their own versions of
the blockbuster event.
According to the tracking group
RetailMeNot, some 250 retailers will be
offering promotions that aim to expand
their market share ahead of the key back-
to-school shopping season.
“Mid-July used to be one of the sleepiest
times for retailers, and Prime Day has really
reshaped the dynamics,” said Andrew
Lipsman of the research firm eMarketer.
Prime Day sales for Amazon are
expected to hit USD5 billion this year, up
from USD3.2 billion in 2018, which at the
time represented its biggest ever global
shopping event, JP Morgan Analyst Doug
Anmuth said in a research note.
“While the numbers are impressive, we
believe there are also additional benefits of
Prime Day across Amazon’s ecosystem as it
allows Amazon to better gauge customer
demand for the second half (of the year),
acts as a critical peak-day test to ready
fulfillment centres and logistics for the
holiday season and brings in new Prime
members well ahead of the holidays.”
Amazon began the event in 2015 across
nine countries to promote its Prime
subscription service. The original event
brought in more revenue than ‘Black
Friday’, the key shopping day opening the
holiday season in November.
Online rival eBay is calling its event
‘Crash Day’, poking fun at technical glitches
that Amazon has experienced in past
years.
“If history repeats itself and Amazon
crashes that day, eBay’s wave of can’t-miss
deals on some of the seasons top items will
excite customers around the world,” eBay
said.
Walmart
meanwhile
is
expected
to launch big online promotions for
electronics, appliances and other items
over a four-day period starting Sunday,
touting the fact that, unlike Amazon, it does
not require an annual membership.
Target, another large retail group,
has announced it will offer discounts on
hundreds of thousands of items ranging
from furniture and apparel to “must-have
kitchen appliances” on its website.
Others expected to join in the promotion
include retailers such asMacy’s, Nordstrom,
Best Buy and even the Google Store.
Amazon ‘Prime Day’
becomes phenomenon
as rivals jump in
A survey of US consumers by research
firm Adlucent found 75 per cent will be
shopping for deals on Prime Day - many
comparing prices between Amazon and
other retailers to get the best price.
“Although Amazon was one of the first
to create a sensational cyber holiday of
its own, it’s no longer acting alone, as
competitors have begun to respond in
force,” the group said in a report.
Amazon is facing a walkout in at least
one of its US warehouses over working
conditions, and it has drawn scrutiny from
antitrust enforcers over its vast reach.
Now one of the world’s biggest
companies with its retail, music and video
streaming, cloud computing and other
services, Amazon is the undisputed leader
in e-commerce, although not quite as
dominant as previously believed.
eMarketer recently revised down
Amazon’s share of US online commerce
to 37.2 per cent from a prior estimate of
49 per cent, following data released in
Chief Executive Jeff Bezos’s shareholder
letter on third-party sales on the
platform.
Still, eMarketer said it expected the
number of US households that subscribe
to Prime to jump 8.6 per cent this year
to 65 million - meaning more than
half of American homes will be on the
programme.
“Prime membership is the fulcrum
on which Amazon’s commerce flywheel
spins,” Lipsman said.
Lipsman said Amazon is facing more
competitionaroundPrimeDaybut hasbeen
successful in using the event to underscore
the value of the subscription programme
and promote its smart speakers, media and
other offerings.
“Amazon typically gains significant
market share during the event,” he said.
Amazon was one of the irst to create a sensational cyber holiday of its own, it’s no
longer acting alone, as competitors have begun to respond
AFP