Target Announces Big Deals to Compete With Amazon Prime Day

Target Announces Big Deals to Compete With Amazon Prime Day
File image of a Target store sign. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Amazon has turned Prime Day into a summer shopping holiday—and rival retailers like Target want to claim a piece of that spending next week.

Target is running “Deal Days” on Monday and Tuesday, July 15 and 16, the same dates as Amazon’s two-day Prime Day event. Target said it will offer 40% off some furniture, 30% off some small appliances and cookware, and other deals on toys, sporting goods and bedding.

Prime Day has become Amazon’s annual summer show of force in the shopping world. Amazon uses the savings event to spotlight its own products and hook new members on Prime, its $119 annual free-shipping program. This year Amazon says Prime Day will include more than one million deals, such as steep discounts on its own Alexa-enabled devices.

Target is looking to compete in part by playing up the fact that customers don’t need a membership to score deals. This year’s two-day event is an expansion: Target held a one-day sale last year, which it called “one of our biggest days of the year for online sales.”

Other retailers are trying to cash in next week, too.

EBay made a more pointed reference to Amazon in its announcement, needling the company for its periodic website outages last year on Prime Day. EBay said it will launch a “Crash Sale” on July 15 that will include “hot deals on top brands” over 50% off, with free shipping and no membership required.

“If history repeats itself and Amazon crashes that day,” eBay said, the company will include more deals. That’s a nod to the fact that Amazon’s website had periodic outages last year on Prime Day.

That sale is part of a larger series of sales on eBay that starts July 1 and includes savings on cookware, camping gear and home appliances.

Nordstrom also hopes to capitalize on the summer version of Black Friday, albeit a few days after the Prime Day event. The company announced it will launch its two-week “anniversary sale” on July 19, with discounts on brands such as Topshop and Madewell.

Amazon’s Prime Day is in its fifth year. It allows the company to flex its muscles over its competition and boost its quarterly sales numbers. More importantly, Amazon uses the savings event to spotlight its own products and hook new members on Prime.

It’s not a surprise that other retailers want to chip away at Amazon on Prime Day. Although the company doesn’t disclose revenue from previous Prime Days, Amazon said last year’s sale was its “biggest global shopping event ever.”

“Prime Day has changed the terrain of the summer for retailers,” Adobe Digital Insights director Taylor Schreiner previously told CNN Business. “Retailers need an effective strategy to address it. The only guaranteed losing play is to ignore it.”

2019 CNN Trademark

ntd newsletter icon
Sign up for NTD Daily
What you need to know, summarized in one email.
Stay informed with accurate news you can trust.
By registering for the newsletter, you agree to the Privacy Policy.
Comments