Prime Day 'Coming,' Says Amazon Website; Event Seen as Unofficial Holiday Launch

Amazon Prime Day, which has come to span well more than 24 hours, is “coming,” said an Amazon placeholder Monday. The company didn’t give dates for the two-day event that’s informally seen this year as launching the 2020 holiday season. The company didn’t hold Prime Day in July in the typical slot as it looked to catch up from pandemic orders that drove overall Q2 e-commerce orders to record levels. On Amazon’s Q2 investor call, Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said (see 2007310023) Amazon delayed Prime Day due to fulfillment constraints created by strong COVID-19-related demand that began in March and “remained elevated” throughout Q2. Adobe reported, meanwhile, that overall U.S. e-commerce receipts exceeded $2 billion daily in May and June (see 2009140031), numbers typically achieved only during the holiday season. Three days topped $3 billion. John Copeland, Adobe vice president-marketing and customer insights, predicted last week that the holiday season "will likely get here even earlier this year.” He said 2020 “has been a difficult year, and consumers are looking forward to the comfort of the holiday season.”