Prime Day Set for Q4, After Coronavirus Delay

Prime Day 2020 will be in Q4, Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky confirmed on Thursday's Q2 call. It's investing in “meaningfully higher” square footage growth for fulfillment center space, sort centers and delivery stations due to come online in late Q3 into Q4. “We need to build the inventory more for Q4, and we've run out of space,” he said. The company delayed Prime Day from July due to fulfillment constraints created by strong COVID-19-related demand, said Olsavsky. Revenue surged 41% year on year, to $88.9 billion. Results crushed Cowen’s expectations of 36% growth, analyst John Blackledge wrote investors Friday: A doubling of worldwide streaming video hours was primarily on Prime Video adoption. The e-tailer's top priority continues to be COVID-19: social distancing, cleaning and temperature taking, the CFO said. Second is expanding capacity, said Olsavsky, heading into the higher volume second half. “We're not back to where we were pre-COVID,” and won’t be near-term, he said: As the company continues to improve fulfillment, “hopefully, it'll be less noticeable for our consumer base.” The platform also isn't ready to return to one-day shipping, the executive noted.