Everything We Know About Amazon Prime Day – The Motley Fool

Prime Day is back on us. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) fourth annual shopping extravaganza will start on Monday, July 16 at noon PDT (3:00 pm EDT) for an extended period of 36 hours.

Amazon Uses First Day to Boost Revenue at a Slow Shopping Moment: People Go on Vacation, Spending Money on Poolside Drinks or Cross Country Trips Instead of Spending Electronics, the media or a multitude of junk.

But since only Premier members are allowed to take advantage of First Day bids, this is also a key factor in the growth of Memberships, which is arguably the most important benefit competitive basis of Amazon. Amazon has recently announced that it has reached 100 million Premium members worldwide, a sign of the effectiveness of its loyalty program, which offers two days of free shipping on millions of items, in addition to shipping. other benefits such as video and music and discounts at Whole Foods

Unsurprisingly, Amazon promises it will be the best day yet. Below all we know about this year's version:

• For the first time, Prime Day will last 36 hours, compared with 30 hours last year, essentially giving customers two days to take advantage of offers. time, whole foods will be included. Amazon closed its acquisition of the organic supermarket chain last August, making it the first Prime Day that the e-commerce giant was able to integrate. Amazon is offering an additional 10% discount on hundreds of Whole Foods items already on sale. Significant discounts will be available on other popular products, and Amazon credit card holders will also receive double the rewards of 10% back on Whole Foods purchases from July 14th to July 17th.
• Prime Day will not only be available the US Deals will be offered to major members of 17 countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Mexico, Japan, India, the United States. Italy, Germany, France, China, Canada, Belgium and Austria. More than a million offers will be available in categories such as TVs, smart household items, cooking, grocery, toys, fashion, furniture, home appliances, school supplies and everyday items.
• Some offers are already available, including $ 100 on the Echo show; offers are also available on Amazon brands and media such as music, Kindle books and video games via Twitch.

There are also things we can expect from the First Day of this year based on last year's results:

• Amazon's biggest shopping day, surpassing Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday. Last year's sales rose 60% over the previous year, although Amazon, typically, refused to publish a hard dollar figure. Considering that Amazon adds six more hours as well as Whole Foods items to the manna, this year's Prime Day sales could increase by at least as much in 2017.
• Tens of millions of Premium members shopped during Prime Day last year. % increase over the previous year. Given the increase in the number of core members, this year's event should see another increase in the number of first-rate consumers.
• The most popular item last year was the Echo Dot. Given the early promotion of the Echo Show by the company, this gadget compatible with Alexa could be the biggest seller of the platform this year

For investors, a number of key issues remain still unanswered. We do not know how much revenue Amazon reports from Prime Day, nor do we know how many members shop on Prime Day. And it's hard to know how many leading Amazon members adds through the event.

Yet, it is evident that Amazon sees Prime Day as a winner for its customers and the company itself, while the company doubles each year

This also looks like a success from a competitive point of view, as many of Amazon's rivals like Walmart and Best Buy followed his example by offering his own shopping vacation to compete with the e-commerce giant.

While we never know how much Prime Day money is generating, it's still another way for Amazon to take advantage of its unique program fidelity. For the main members and investors of Amazon, it is a reason to celebrate.

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an affiliate of Amazon, is a board member of The Motley Fool. Jeremy Bowman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares and recommends Amazon. The Fool Motley has a disclosure policy.