1.
Amazon Sets Another
Sales Record
Amazon has done it again. Prime Day set yet another record for
the online retailer, bringing in the biggest sales day in company
history…again. This is the third year in a row that Amazon sales
peaked on Prime Day, which eclipsed both biggest holiday
shopping days of 2016. But how big was the jump over last year?
Considerable. Monday’s 30-hour sales bonanza turned in 60
percent more in sales than the same day last year. By any stretch,
that’s huge. As icing on the cake, Amazon added more Prime
members to their plan than any other single day in the history of
the company. According to a media release, “tens of millions” of
Prime members bought something on Prime Day 2017.
One of the hottest items, according to the company: Amazon
devices. Everything from the Echo Dot smart speaker to the classic
Echo speaker, Fire tablet, and even Kindle eReaders. A deep
discount on the 55-inch Element 4K TV, equipped with Amazon

2.
Fire streaming service, sold out in only a few hours. Amazon
reported several other popular electronic items including a
programmable pressure cooker, Sony PlayStations, Nintendo
Switch systems, and Game of Thrones Blu-Ray discs. Seems like
there will be a lot of people binging in Westeros leading up to the
Season 7 premiere.
So, it seems that Amazon Prime Day was yet another Amazon idea
that hit all the right notes for customers. The idea was initially
floated as a way to celebrate Amazon’s 20th birthday. The
celebration was also a cleverly messaged promotion, not only
offering deep discounts, but enticing customers to sign up for
Prime in the process. The Amazon service, which retails at about
$99 per year offers both free two-day shipping on a number of
items as well as access to Amazon’s streaming service on mobile
devices and the ability to “borrow” books for free from Amazon’s
Kindle lending library.
Offering all these services allows Amazon Prime not just as a
streaming alternative to Netflix or Hulu, but as a standalone
category item, that many consumers purchase on top of
subscriptions to other streaming services. While users still have to
pay for first-run movies as well as many others in the Amazon
library, there are a good number offered free, most on a rotating
basis.
Then comes the “add on” of the free shipping. Order a couple of
items each month while not having to pay the shipping costs and
the “fee” ends up feeling like a freebie. So, depending on how you
look at it, every Prime customer feels like they’re getting a deal.
Robert Gillings is an award winning writer, producer, actor
architectural designer, philosopher and financial consultant.