Retail Rivals Offering Deals to Compete With Amazon Prime Day

Amazon.com is kicking off its fourth annual Prime Day today at 3 p.m. EST, with millions of products on sale exclusively for Prime members over the course of 36 hours. In anticipation of the sales event, some of Amazon's top rivals have announced their own online sales to steal some some market share from the online retail leader — no $119 membership fee required. Target, for example, announced on Friday that it would offer some “red-hot summer savings” on July 17. The sale will run from early Tuesday morning until 11:59 p.m. CT. Target is also offering a free six-month membership for same-day delivery to customers who spend more than $100 during its sale. In addition, eBay said it will offer "thousands of exclusive deals" on Tuesday. Like Target, eBay is touting "no membership required … ever." Kohl's held a one-day sale event, called "It's a Big Deal," this past Tuesday. Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy’s, and other retailers are using special deals to attract shoppers on Prime Day as well, CNBC reported. 

Total Retail's Take: It makes sense for retailers to get in on the Amazon Prime Day mania. Last year Amazon said a record "tens of millions of Prime members" rang up purchases during Prime Day. And this year, Amazon's self-made annual shopping holiday is expected to be an even bigger event. To start, it's lasting 36 hours, six hours longer than last year’s 30-hour sale. Prime Day deals will also extend into Whole Foods Market stores, where Prime members will receive an extra 10 percent off a selection of products. Coresight Research is estimating Prime Day 2018 sales should reach at minimum $3.4 billion globally, breaking another record. If that threshold is achieved, it will make July 17 the biggest shopping day ever for Amazon in terms of revenues, ahead of Cyber Monday 2017, said Coresight CEO and Founder Deborah Weinswig. With so much traffic expected to be online over the next two days, other retailers can't afford to miss an opportunity to win some of those sales, especially as Amazon becomes a bigger and bigger threat to their businesses.