Amazon has finally gone and done it; they are now powerful enough to have created their own global holiday. As part of its 20th birthday celebration, Amazon has dedicated July 15th as ‘Prime Day’.
Billed as a discount shopping event to rival Black Friday, the one-day sale is exclusive to Amazon’s Prime customers; a $99 per year membership will get you in the club. The brilliant part of their marketing is that if you join now, they are offering a free one-month trial membership, after 30 days Amazon Prime will bill at $99 per year.
Prime Member Benefits:
- FREE Two-Day shipping with Amazon Prime
- Watch unlimited movies and TV shows with Prime Instant Video
- Unlimited music streaming
- Free unlimited photo storage
- Shop Amazon Lightning Deals and MyHabit.com
- A Prime membership includes over 500,000 free eBooks
In the brief 10-day period between the announcement of the event and Prime Day, Amazon has taken multi-channel marketing to new heights promoting this event. Direct mail, email, social media, television, and print; you name it: Amazon is there.
Competitor Response
While many competitors and taking a sit back and see what happens approach, Wal-Mart and Best Buy have decided to throw their hat in the ring and take Amazon on at their own game. Wal-Mart President and CEO Fernando Madeira posted this to the Wal-Mart blog:
“If you’ve shopped Walmart.com, you’ll know that every day is a special day where everyone has access to the same low prices we offer. We mean everyone: you, your neighbor, your boss, and your best friend all of whom are looking for the best price on the things they want and need. We’ve heard some retailers are charging $100 to get access to a sale. But the idea of asking customers to pay extra in order to save money just doesn’t add up for us.”
And The Winner Is…
It will be interesting to see which retail giant comes out on top of this one; will Prime Day become the new Black Friday? One thing is for sure though; the big winner will be the consumer!