Amazon braces for a Prime Day showdown as rivals ramp up summer sales events

Breakin’ out the wish list… for Amazon’s 10th Prime Day next week. The Prime membership, launched in 2005, has been a key growth driver for the $2T company, luring subscribers with perks like its members-only two-day sales event (in 2021, Bezos’ baby said it had ~200M global Prime subs). Amazon said it had its largest sales day on record during last year’s Prime Day (analysts estimated shoppers splurged nearly $13B). Now Amazon’s hoping to run it back:

• A-lists: It teamed up with Megan Thee Stallion to showcase the rapper’s “must have” picks and drop a music video called “It’s Prime Day”. Amazon also got actor Millie Bobby Brown and influencers like Alix Earle to promo deals ahead of the event.

The Prime effect… 65% of Americans said they planned to do more bargain hunting this year as sticky inflation strains wallets. Rival retailers have been taking a page from Amazon’s playbook by ramping up their own July sales. Walmart recently announced its first “Walmart Deals,” and it’s billing the five-day sale next week as its largest savings event ever. Target debuted “Circle Week” in April with discounts for loyalty members, and will have another this month. And Best Buy’s bringing back “Black Friday in July.”

• Perk’d up: Retailers have also taken on Amazon by rolling out paid memberships that are cheaper than Prime (like Target Circle 360 and Walmart Plus), with offers like unlimited same-day delivery and early deal access.

• Not just summer: Target, Walmart, Walgreens, and others have announced price cuts across thousands of items as consumers cool on discretionary buys. US consumer spending barely rose in May, after a drop in April.