NEW YORK– Amazon’s annual day of deals is just around the corner.
On July 10, the e-commerce giant will kick off this year’s Prime Day — a yearly event in which Amazon slashes prices on a wide, sometimes comical, variety of items for its Prime membership customers.
Prime Day has proved a massive sales day for Amazon. And the company promises this year will be no different, with “hundreds of thousands of deals” for Prime members all over the globe.
Details about what items will be included among this year’s Prime Day deals are not yet available, but on Wednesday, Amazon gave its first sneak peek into what’s to come.
30 hours to shop
Amazon’s day of deals will actually run for 30 hours this year. It will kick off at 9 pm ET on July 11 and run until 3 am ET on July 12. Throughout Prime Day’s run, new deals will be offered every five minutes, the company says.
Vice president of Amazon Prime, Greg Greeley, says the goal is to offer deals to “a record number of shoppers.”
Amazon says customers who do not already have Prime memberships can sign up for one on or before July 11 to take advantage of this year’s deals. Prime costs about $100 per year.
Televisions on sale
The company said there will be some “amazing” deals on a “variety” of television brands — including the Amazon Fire TV edition of the ultra high-definition Element 4K TV.
“Amazon is planning one of its largest total volume TV deals in history with a record level of inventory but once again, the TV deals will likely sell out,” the company said in a press release.
Items selling out lightening fast plagued Prime Day’s inaugural event back in 2015. Last year, Amazon beefed up inventory. But Prime Day 2016 was beleaguered by some technical difficulties when some customers found it difficult to add certain deals to their shopping carts.
Get exclusive deals with Alexa
The company says customers shopping with a gadget that comes equipped with Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant — like the Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Show, Amazon Tap, Fire TV or Fire tablet — will get some exclusive offers.
It’s the second year that “voice shoppers” will have access to unique discounts.
Pre-Prime Day sales
Amazon will roll out new deals every day leading up to Prime Day as well, beginning Thursday at 1 a.m. ET.
The first round of deals will include a discount for Prime members who haven’t yet tried Amazon’s music streaming service. They can receive a four-month membership for 99 cents. Also beginning Thursday, Amazon will offer up to 40% off of a Kindle Unlimited membership — which offers access to more than a million book titles that can be read on any smart device.
More customers abroad will have access
In addition to the U.S., shoppers in 12 other countries — including the U.K., Mexico and China — can participate this year.
The deals will differ across each country, but Amazon says there will be a new Amazon Global Store in which Prime members in China and Mexico will be able to shop select deals in other countries.
