Amazon will hold a second 2-day shopping event this year to give Prime members early access to holiday deals, which will kick off on Tuesday, October 11th.
In officially announcing “Prime Early Access Sale” on Monday, Amazon also released holiday gift guides and a new Top 100 list of gifts:
“Prime Early Access Sale gives members a chance to kick off the holiday shopping season early with hundreds of thousands of deals.
“As part of the new deals event, Amazon is introducing a Top 100 list of some of the season’s most popular and giftable items. New deals from the list will drop throughout the event, offering deep savings across all top categories, including electronics, fashion, home, kitchen, pets, toys, and Amazon devices.
“Holiday gift guides and Amazon’s Toys We Love list will also make it easier for Prime members to discover, shop, and save on deals this holiday season.”
There’s always a risk that people will hold off on making purchases when they know there’s an upcoming sale. On the other hand, getting people to shop in mid-October could help move holiday shopping forward and ease the perennial delivery crush later in the season.
It remains to be seen how the new Prime shopping holiday will impact other retailers, which sometimes see a halo effect.
On Thursday, Walmart issued its holiday-news press release. It highlighted new and expanded “no concerns” returns options, including curbside returns and – for Walmart+ customers only – Return Pickup from Home. Walmart’s Holiday Guarantee kicks in on Saturday: “eligible purchases made on or after October 1 can be returned through January 31, 2023” – and that’s true for Marketplace purchases as well.
Both Walmart and Amazon issued top-toy lists, and Walmart recently added an interesting feature: “Scan to Add” lets customers scan items in stores using the Walmart app to add them directly to an online registry or wish list.
The Prime Early Access sale begins October 11 at 12 a.m. PDT and runs through October 12 in 15 countries: Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the UK, and the US. You can find details in today’s press release on AboutAmazon.com.
