Amazon Prime Day 2018: Here's The Information You Need To Know
Amazon Prime members can once again look forward to getting steep discounts gadgets, things for your home, travel gear, and more. While Amazon's Prime Day is not as big as Black Friday (yet), at least you don’t have to endure the psychological trauma of being pushed around in large crowds and waiting in long lines out the door at brick and mortar shops. And an added benefit — without major gift giving holidays coming up, as Amazon puts it, this is a day to focus on yourself.
What is Prime Day?
Prime Day is a time Amazon Prime members can enjoy lightning deals, price cuts, and promotions. Though the exact date hasn’t been announced yet, it has taken place every year in July. In the past, Prime Day has been on the second Tuesday of each July, which is July 10 this year.
Amazon first launched Prime Day on July 15, 2015 in celebration of its 20th birthday. Last year’s event was extended to 30 hours. This year’s event may extend even longer. Also last year, tens of millions members made purchases on Prime Day, a 50% increase from the year before.
How to prepare
Because this event is so popular and offers great deals, it is in your best interest to prepare beforehand. You can do this by downloading the free Amazon app and going to the “today’s deals” page. When you get there, check the “upcoming” box where you can see the deals up to 24 hours before they go live. By clicking “watch this deal,” you can get alerts from the app right before the deal is meant to go live. This will allow you to create a list of things you know you want to buy prior to the event, and will prevent impulsive buying the minute you see certain deals.
This tactic is particularly handy to get the most out of the lightning deals. These deals come out every few minutes, and are only available for an hour or two. Because of the high demand, once an item is in your cart you only have about 15 minutes to make a purchase decision. If you have chosen some of these items to alert you before the event, you will have a higher chance of getting the item when the deal is available and you will have already made the purchase decision.
As implied in the name, this event is for Amazon Prime members only. However, there is still time to sign up to be a prime member before the event. If you’re not ready to commit to being a member and paying the annual fee, you can sign up for the 30-day free trial and unsubscribe before the first payment.
Items you can expect-
If you’re looking for toys, Echo devices, Smart Home products, or TVs, you’re in luck. These were the most purchased items last year because they had the best deals. More specifically, you will most likely find great deals on Amazon Fire Stick, PlayStation Plus, Philips Hue Smart Bulbs, Echo Speakers, and Kindles. Not surprisingly, Amazon-owned products see some of the steepest price cuts.
Last year some of the most purchased items with the best deals included the $90 Amazon Echo (originally priced at $179), The $50 Amazon Fire HD 8 tablets (originally priced at $80), and the $29.99 Fire 7 Tablet with Alexa (originally priced at $49.99). Some others were the Sony Extra Bass Wireless Headphones, the iRobot Roomba Robotic Vacuum Cleaner, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, as well as others. It’s safe to say this year will have deals on Alexa- controlled and other Smart Home products, as well as other tech gadgets.
Source [Forbes]