Asha looks at the impact of Amazon’s deal events on retail over the past few years and asks if they live up to the hype.

In recent years, the retail landscape has seen a significant shift in the lead-up to the holiday shopping season. Traditionally, Black Friday has been the undisputed king of discounts and deals, signalling the official start of the holiday shopping frenzy. However, the emergence of Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days (or Prime Fall event as it has historically been called), has challenged this long-standing tradition.

Prime Day, introduced by Amazon in 2015, quickly became a global shopping event known for its exclusive discounts and deals for Prime members. Initially held in July, it paved the way for other retailers to host their own sales events. In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Amazon postponed Prime Day to October, dubbing it “Prime Day Fall.” The move proved to be an ingenious one, as it marked the unofficial beginning of the holiday shopping season, pre-dating the traditional Black Friday sales.

Black Friday has now made its way to the UK & EU market, becoming a significant shopping event. But with Prime Day in October gaining prominence, the future of Black Friday is challenged. With limited budgets to invest in promotions, which promotional event is more significant and which event do brands need to invest in?

To read Asha’s full article, which appears in the November edition of Toy World, click here.

Asha has 10 years eCommerce account management experience, including at Amazon and managing the Amazon/eCommerce businesses at Tomy UK and Melissa & Doug. She now runs Etopia Consultancy, to help brands create their eCommerce strategy and grow their Amazon business, and can be contacted on asha@etopiaconsultancy.co.uk for guidance with trading on Amazon.