Mark your calendars, power up your electronic device of choice and dig out your wallet — Amazon Prime Day is coming.
Amazon.com has confirmed the savings event will kick off at 9 p.m. EST on July 10 and run until 3 a.m. EST on July 12. For 30 hours, the e-commerce giant will release “hundreds of thousands of deals exclusively for Prime members,” according to a recent press release. Here’s what to know about getting the most value out of Amazon Prime Day.
[See: 10 Money-Saving Websites to Check Before Shopping.]
What is Amazon Prime Day? For those of you who missed the last two holidays, here’s the lowdown: Amazon Prime Day is the site’s biggest savings event of the year. During the course of the holiday, hundreds of thousands of limited-time deals across all product categories are released sporadically. This year’s Prime Day will be “the best deal in the history of shopping,” said Greg Greeley, Amazon Prime’s vice president, in a press release.
Click through the gallery below for some of the best deals you’ll find on Amazon Prime Day.
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A little bit of Prime Day history. Amazon hosted the first Prime Day in 2015 to celebrate its 20th birthday, promising deals would rival Black Friday bargains. Consumers were largely unimpressed with the inaugural event, however, complaining that deals involved undesirable merchandise, offered mediocre savings and sold out too quickly.
Happily, Amazon Prime Day returned in 2016 with better deals and bigger savings. According to the online retailer, Prime Day 2016 was the biggest day in Amazon history, and shoppers saved double on deals compared with Prime Day 2015. The holiday included more than 100,000 discounts on electronics, apparel, shoes, jewelry, toys and more.
This year, Amazon Prime Day is set to be bigger, longer and more profitable than ever before. During the 30-hour event, the company is expected to offer discounts on more than 100,000 items across all categories, with new deals surfacing as often as every five minutes.
Thinking of joining the tens of millions of consumers hunting down deals on Amazon Prime Day? Be sure to open a Prime account before the event begins, since — as the name suggests — Prime Day is available exclusively to Prime members. If you’re not ready to commit the $99 per year (or $10 per month) for Amazon Prime membership, you have the option to sign up for a free 30-day trial as a first-time member.
Once you have your Prime Account set up, your next step should be to plan out a shopping list. Amazon has promised deals across categories, but past Prime Days have shown that certain types of products will enjoy especially attractive price cuts.
[See: 10 Signs You Shop Too Much.]
[See: 12 Shopping Tricks to Keep You Under Budget.]
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What to Buy on Amazon Prime Day 2017 originally appeared on usnews.com
WTOP Tech Guy Gregg Stebben says Amazon isn't the only retailer who can benefit from this day: [audio mp3="http://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/stebben-prime-day-competitors-EDITED-mix-down.mp3" title="Gregg Stebben on Amazon Prime Day" author="WTOP" date="July 11, 2017"][/audio]