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Happy Friday.
Next Tuesday, Amazon kicks off Prime Day. It runs Tuesday through Friday. So — four days. In June, a month chosen, apparently, for having no prior association with the event, which has lived in July since 2021.
The early deals have been live for two weeks. There's also a second Prime Day coming in October. At this point the only word in "Prime Day" still doing honest work is "Prime," and that's the membership you're paying for.
A day, allegedly
The "day" is four days. Last year it was also four days. Amazon expanded it and kept the name — the way you'd keep calling it a sandwich after adding a second sandwich and a Tuesday.
The countdown to a thing already happening
Amazon is currently running "early Prime Day deals," which is a countdown to an event whose deals are already on. The urgency is the product. The scarcity is scheduled. And in October it runs the entire thing again, which puts "annual" on the growing list of nearby words that are technically lying.
None of this is a complaint. It's just funny that the most powerful retail event on earth is named after a unit of time it stopped respecting three years ago. You're planning inventory, deals, and ad spend around a four-day costume worn by a permanent discount season. The costume is very good. That's the point of a costume.
This Week In Amazon
— Amazon's official Prime Day announcement found room to mention that its data centers are "7x more water-efficient than the industry average." Nothing says summer savings like hydrology.
— Prime members who spend $15 on a grocery order get entered to win free groceries for a year. A sale with a lottery stapled to the side.
— Little Caesars is in: a $5 pizza, redeemable five times, June 15–23. Your Prime membership now negotiates dinner.
Quick Win
Before the event locks, open Seller Central → Advertising → Deals and check the status of every deal you submitted: Active, Upcoming, or Suppressed / Needs attention. A suppressed deal caught this Friday is fixable. The same deal discovered Tuesday morning, mid-event, is just a gap on the shelf during the four days that matter most. Two minutes. Do it before you log off for the weekend.
P.S. Forward this to whoever on your team still says "Prime Day" with a completely straight face. They can subscribe at newsletter.myAMZelite.com.
Any questions? Book a meeting with me here.
Dan Head
Founder, AMZ Elite
