While Amazon's sales have fared well so far during the COVID-19 crisis for the e-commerce giant, they're finally facing a negative blip on their financial radar. Amazon's biggest sales event of the year held annually in July, Prime Day, is being delayed until at least August according to a leaked internal memo first reported by Reuters.
Prime Day has always been held in July, as it was originally created in July 2015 to celebrate Amazon's 20th anniversary. The first Prime Day ran for 24 hours in 9 countries. As of 2019, it grew into a 48-hour event spanning 18 different countries.
With the current demand on Amazon to fulfill and ship essential orders during the pandemic, trying to hold Prime Day in July would put too much of a strain on their operations. Prime Day in 2019 reportedly brought in $175 million in sales over the 2-day event, so you can imagine the bandwidth required to fulfill and ship that many orders.
The delay is expected to cost Amazon $100 million in sales according to the leaked memo seen by Reuters. It is mostly due to an excess of electronic devices they were expecting to sell sooner, and will now most likely have to sell at a discount. Their Alexa-enabled electronic devices are typically a huge seller during Prime Day events.
What about the competition?
Every year, other e-commerce players like Walmart, Target, and eBay, try to compete with Prime Day by having their own large-scale sales events. Do you think other retailers can take advantage of Amazon's delay? Or do they face the same hurdles as Amazon? How has your business or job been affected by the coronavirus? Please tell us your story! Email us: inquiries@ripcordbrands.com or give us a call: (303) 536-5505.
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