Amazon Ready to Launch Prime Day

Amazon.com Inc is planning to leave behind Black Friday in its wake. On Monday, the company announced that Black Friday would have to step aside because Prime Day was here.

The e-commerce behemoth revealed that July 15 would be the launch day for huge sales it called bigger than any Black Friday, the day following Thanksgiving that is the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season.

The company said that its Prime Day was just a one-day event that will have more deals that did Black Friday, exclusively for its member of Prime across the globe.

Membership to Prime gives the consumer free two-day shipping on a number of purchases, unlimited streaming for many books, movies, music and more. The cost of membership is $99 per year.

Prime Day is in honor of the 20th birthday of Amazon, but seems also to be a bid by Amazon to generate more members in Prime, with the company saying you are not a member of Prime, you will want to join now so you do not miss out on the multitude of deals in this huge extravaganza.

In addition, it probably is a move to keep its current members pleased. One analyst said that the company might be trying to increase their overall member of Prime.

That could make sense for Amazon considering Prime members spend a substantially longer amount of time with Amazon than do non-Prime shoppers.

The company does not disclose its amount of Prime members, but analysts estimate the number is close to 40 million.

That of course adds up. One online research firm estimates that the average Prime member spends over $1,340 annually on Amazon, while other shoppers spend an average of $969.

Another analyst it was likely Amazon’s way of driving incremental sales volume, since sales drop during July, at least until the shopping starts for back to school.

He mentioned that other retailers have held Christmas sale during July along with other types of promotions to increased sales during the peak summer season when often times they are at their lowest.