Online retailer promises more than 2 million deals

SEATTLE — Amazon said its annual Prime Day event will be held on June 21 and June 22 this year, allowing Prime members to start their summer with special deals on products and such services as Prime Video, Amazon Music and Prime Gaming. The online retailer is also inviting consumers who aren’t Prime Members to participate by joining or starting a 30-day free trial.

“Prime Day is a celebration of our Prime members, and we’re excited to bring members great deals across an incredible selection, whether members want to shop and save on top brands, buzzworthy items, or small business collections,” said Jamil Ghani, vice president of Amazon Prime. “Since we launched Prime Day in 2015, it’s delivered great new ways to shop, gift, watch movies and TV, and even dance, and we’re excited to carry on that tradition.”

The Prime Day sales event has typically taken place in July, but last year it was postponed until October because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amazon said it is postponing Prime Day in Canada and India this year, due to the increasing impact of COVID-19 in those countries. But Prime Day sales will proceed in the U.S., the U.K., the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Spain, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Netherlands, Mexico, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, China, Brazil, Belgium, Austria, and Australia.

Amazon said its two-day Prime Day event will offer exclusive access to limited-time offers, new product launches, and top entertainment. The company promises more than 2 million deals across the participating countries, including savings on fashion, home, and beauty products, as well as toys, sporting goods, pet supplies, electronics, Amazon brands, and Amazon devices.

The company contended that small businesses on its platform will be among the beneficiaries of its Prime Day sales event. Amazon said that Prime members will again be able to support small businesses this Prime Day, with more than a million deals from small and medium-sized businesses. Members can shop across local Black-owned, woman-owned, military family-owned, and many more small businesses, the company said, adding that it intends to spend more than $100 million to fuel the success of small businesses selling on Amazon, including promotional activities to encourage customers to shop with them.

Starting on Monday, June 7, and continuing through Sunday, June 20, Amazon will offer a $10 credit to use on Prime Day to members who spend $10 on select small business products and brands based in the U.S. in Amazon’s store, including products from Amazon Handmade and Amazon Launchpad. This promotion is funded by Amazon to connect customers with local small businesses selling in its store, the company said. Small business promotions will also run in the U.K., Spain, Germany, Italy, France, and Japan. Amazon also said that more than 300,000 sellers are eligible for the “Spend $10, Get $10” promotion this year —more than twice as many as last year.