Marketers, Protesters Latch Onto Amazon Prime Day Buzz
Prime Day rolled out without incident Monday as Amazon avoided website bottlenecks of previous years (see 1807170045) with an off-peak 3 a.m. EDT start time. There was still plenty of noise about the high-profile event, as Amazon, media sites and manufacturers sought to grab their share of the two-day Prime Day shopping budget.
CNET noted Monday the Apple Watch Series 6 44mm version was $350 at Amazon, a $79 savings vs. the Apple Store, but that it was good only on the red model. Best Buy and Walmart had savings on the watch of $70 vs. Apple’s price but with more color choices: five at Best Buy and in white and red, at Walmart, it said. A $240 deal on the Apple Watch SE expired Monday afternoon, it said. Wired steered shoppers to Walmart, saying nearly every major store has a rival sale to Amazon’s this week. Tech writer David Pogue wrote that the MacBook Air is $50 less than the Amazon price at apple.com, with free AirPods.
The #PrimeDay2021 hashtag was a magnet on Twitter Monday for a spectrum of outlets and causes. Charities vied to be the Prime members’ cause of choice to score a sliver of the proceeds from Prime Day purchases: “Every bit counts,” said Water is Basic.
Amazon detractors warned off shopping on the site, citing reports of poor working conditions at Amazon warehouses and CEO Jeff Bezos’ billionaire status. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) discouraged shopping at Amazon, saying at a Monday briefing that the shopping event “is the day when Amazon tries to outgun every small business.” Prime Day is “a perfect day not to shop Amazon” and instead “keep it local” and “buy from your neighborhood stores.” De Blasio urged New Yorkers “keep the money in our city, support our small businesses.” The mayor noted Amazon is Staten Island’s largest private employer but criticized company efforts to stop unionization.
An Amazon spokesperson emailed: “Over half of all products purchased on Amazon are sold by small and medium businesses, including more than 40,000 businesses in the State of New York who sold more than 600 million products in one year. That’s why we invest billions in logistics, tools, services, programs, and our teams to help our small and medium business selling partners succeed.”
Amazon was one of the top beneficiaries of the pandemic, seeing e-commerce sales soar to levels that forced the e-commerce giant to delay last year’s summer Prime Day to October, but the virus also forced the company to postpone Prime Day this year in Canada and India. Amazon.ca said Monday, “Due to the impact of COVID-19 across Canada, we have decided to postpone Prime Day while we focus on the safety of our employees and supporting our customers and selling partners.” Amazon is donating $1.5 million for COVID-19 relief to the Canadian Red Cross, United Way Centraide Canada and True North Aid, it said.
EMarketer estimated Prime Day , which runs through Tuesday, will generate $12 billion in sales worldwide. Prime Day growth will slow to 19% vs. 43% last year and 68% in 2019, but it's projected to exceed October's Prime Day by $2 billion, it said Friday (see 2106140049)