Soon it’s that time of year again: Amazon Prime Day! This is Amazon’s time to celebrate its subscription service, offering two-day discounts on hundreds of different products across all categories. It’s the company’s way of making sure you’re getting the most out of your subscription with exclusive discounts.
You’ll find everything you need to know about Amazon Prime Day on this page, including information on how to discover the best discounts and how to get ready for this mini-holiday of online shopping.
What is Amazon Prime Day?
Since 2015, Amazon has set aside two days each year dedicated to offering exclusive discounts on numerous products across all the different sectors it covers. But it’s not just a way of making Amazon stand out from other retailers, because they want to make sure that even if it’s not Black Friday or Christmas when we’re all in for shopping, customers will continue to patronize them for ourselves and our loved ones gift for man. Amazon isn’t entirely transparent when it comes to detailing the success of their big shopping holiday, but last year they sold over 250 million items worldwide during their 48-hour Prime Day event, so you can be sure there will be plenty of deals around.
Amazon tends to offer discounts on many products compared to some of its competitors. But what makes Prime Day special is its exclusivity. The only people who can take advantage of these discounts during those 48 hours are Prime members. Sometimes, throughout the year and during Black Friday and Christmas, special one-off “lightning” deals have taken place.
But fear not! You can participate in Prime Day even if your Prime membership is a free trial. However, if you’re already a loyal Amazon customer and are interested in its video and music streaming service, or subscribe to ad-free streaming on Twitch, then a monthly or yearly Prime subscription (£7.99/£79 respectively) ) may end up being a good deal for you, especially since these services are bundled with free next-day shipping on many products.
When is Amazon Prime Day?
Amazon has confirmed that Prime Day 2022 will take place in July, but there is no set date beyond that. In the first year of the 2020 pandemic, that year’s event was in October, and last year Amazon conflated it with its June event. We expect the two-day sales event to start in mid-July, on the 11th or 18th, but nothing has been confirmed. We’ll update this section when a fixed date is announced.
Prime Day History:
- 2021: June 21-22
- 2020: October 13-14
- 2019: July 15-16
- 2018: July 16-17
- 2017: July 11-12
- 2016: July 12
- 2015: July 15
How to find the best deals on Amazon Prime Day
Our first piece of advice: buy Amazon Prime. You can do this with a free trial (even if you’ve had one before, if it’s been a while, you’ll probably get one again). Alternatively, you can double-check your current subscription to make sure it doesn’t end in early June before Prime Day, or just play it safe and subscribe to a monthly or annual subscription. This will guarantee you’ll always see the best deals on the site, as only Prime members get some discounts throughout the year.
If you’ve already purchased something on the market, one thing you can do is add it to a listing in your Amazon account. In fact, the site allows you to create a number of lists, so you can make one for this year’s upcoming Prime Day. If there is a discount after you add an item to the list, there will be a small indicator telling you the discount is now available on the product page.
But if you’re a more casual shopper and want to see what the fuss is about, the best thing you can do is check out Amazon’s daily deals page. The content is comprehensive and divided into different departments and product categories, so you’re sure to find something you might not only want, but probably need. On Amazon Prime Day, each special is assigned a certain amount of inventory, shown as an availability percentage. This means it’s highly recommended that you get up early and log in to make sure you don’t miss anything by being late for a game.
A simple tip for trying out a purchase you might be planning is to add it to your basket in preparation for Prime Day. This is an effective strategy because when you log back in, the item may still be available, but at a lower price for you to hit the buy button. But be wary as prices can go up too, so if you find something to be a good deal, you should buy it early to avoid disappointment.
Also, don’t forget marketplace sellers. They’ll be busy offering one-time deals on products on Prime Day, and these usually involve checking a box on a product page to activate a small or large discount. But remember, all retailers are aware of the Prime Day event, so double-check prices to see if your competitors are also offering deals on items you want to buy, because they don’t want to miss the start of this shopping holiday by Amazon.
