Amazon Prime Day Slated for October 13 and 14, Promises Extra Support for Small Businesses

Following the initial postponement of the annual Amazon Prime Day due to the coronavirus pandemic, the shopping event is now scheduled to hold starting October 13 through 14. The company made the announcement on September 28, and according to the company, Amazon Prime subscribers will get a shopping headstart into the holiday season with “deep discounts” cutting across must-haves ranging from kid’s toys to kitchen appliances, and Amazon devices amongst many others.

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) also affirmed that it has slated about $100 million to further propound its support for small businesses to cushion the pangs of the pandemic. Consequent upon this, customers will be offering a $10 credit to use on Prime Day and targeted to members who spend $10 on items sold by select small businesses in Amazon’s store.

Meanwhile, AMZN stock closed at $3,095.13 with a 2.49% rise on Friday. After hours, it slightly declined losing 0.25%.

“In the midst of an unprecedented year, we’re committed to making this the most successful Prime Day ever for our small businesses and excited for Prime members worldwide to discover new ways to support local entrepreneurs and save big on everything they need and love,” said Jeff Wilke, Amazon CEO Worldwide Consumer. “This year’s Prime Day is the perfect opportunity for Prime members to get their holiday shopping done early from the comfort of their homes – and to have more time to spend with their families and friends throughout the season.”

Amazon Prime Deals

The plan to hold the Amazon Prime Day at the stated dates followed a restructured warehousing operations to enable workers to continue working under safe conditions. Besides the current $10 credit provisions to shoppers, starting today, customers can purchase two Echo Dot devices for $39.98 and Fire TV Recast for $129.99 to store up to 75 hours of HD programming.

The discount cuts across the majority of Amazon’s hardware devices and Prime subscribers can “get Echo Auto and enjoy hands-free access to Alexa in your car plus six months of Amazon Music Unlimited for $19.99.”

The deals are also applicable to Amazon’s streaming service subscribers. With $0.99, users who have never tried Amazon Music Unlimited can access the service for four months with access to over 60 million music and podcasts, all ad-free. The Amazon Prime Day deals also cut across Audible, Kindle Unlimited, Kindle Book Deals, Amazon Fashion, and lots more.

With growing concern on people’s purchasing ability owing to job losses spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, Jamil Ghani, vice president of Prime, in an interview with CNBC noted that customers will take advantage of the extensive discounts to shop in order to make the holidays count.

“As much as things are different in 2020, there are some things that are the same, which is, we all want to celebrate the holiday season in the best way we can with friends and family,” Ghani said, adding. “I expect there will be folks showing up for Prime Day shopping for themselves, some shopping for needs, some shopping for wants, others shopping for giftable items for the holiday, others trying to knock out their holiday shopping list early in order to spend some more time later with loved ones.”