It’s soon going to be that time of the year again: Amazon Prime Day! It’s when Amazon celebrates its subscription service with two days of discounts across hundreds of different products across all categories. It’s a way for the company to ensure you’re getting the most out of your subscription with exclusive discounts.
You’ll find everything you need to know about Amazon Prime Day on this page, including information on how to spot the best discounts and how to be prepared for this mini-holiday of online shopping.
What is Amazon Prime Day?
Since 2015, Amazon have set aside two days each year dedicated to exclusive discounts on numerous products across all of the different departments they cover. But this isn’t just a way for Amazon to stand out from the other retailers, as they want to make sure customers keep coming back to them even if it isn’t Black Friday or the Christmas season when we’re all out shopping for gifts for ourselves and our loved ones. Amazon isn’t exactly transparent when it comes to detailing the success of their big shopping holidays, but last year they sold over 250 million items around the world during their 48-hour Prime Day event, so you can be certain there will be plenty of deals around.
Amazon is prone to offering discounts on many products compared to some competitors. But what makes Prime Day special is its exclusivity. The only people who can take advantage of these discounts during these 48 hours are Prime memebers. It sometimes already happens with special, one-off ‘lightning’ deals throughout the year and during the Black Friday and Christmas season too.
But fear not! You can participate in Prime Day even if your Prime membership is a free trial. But if you’re already a heavy Amazon customer, and are interested in its video and music streaming services, or subscribing to streamers on Twitch ad-free, then the monthly or annual Prime subscription (£7.99/£79 respectively) may end up being a bargain for you, particularly as these services are bundled with free next-day delivery on many, many products.
When is Amazon Prime Day?
Amazon has confirmed that Prime day 2022 will take place during July, with no fixed date beyond that. During the first year of the pandemic in 2020, that year’s event was in October, and last year Amazon mixed it up with a June event. We expect the two-day sales event to kick off during the middle of July, either on the 11th or the 18th, but there has been no confirmation yet. When a fixed date is announced we’ll update this section.
Prime Day history:
- 2021: June 21-22
- 2020: October 13-14
- 2019: July 15-16
- 2018: July 16-17
- 2017: July 11-12
- 2016: July 12
- 2015: July 15
How to find the best deals on Amazon Prime Day
Our first piece of advice is: get Amazon Prime. You can do this through a free trial (and even if you’d had one previously, if it’s been a while, you may be offered one again). Or you can double-check your current subscription to ensure it doesn’t end in early June before Prime Day, or just play it safe and subscribe to a monthly or annual subscription. This will guarantee that you see the best prices at all times on the site, as some discounts are available only to Prime members throughout the year.
One thing you can do if you’re in the market for something already is to add it to your list in your Amazon account. In fact, the website lets you create many lists, so you can do one for this year’s upcoming Prime Day. If there’s been a discount since you added an item to your list, there’ll be a small indicator telling you off the discount that’s now offered on the product page.
But if you’re a more casual shopper and want to see what the fuss is all about, the best thing you can do is to check Amazon’s daily deals page. These are quite comprehensive and categorised into different departments and product categories, so you’re certain to find something you might not just want, but probably need too. On Amazon Prime Day, there’s a certain amount of stock designated under each special offers, which is shown by percentage availability. This means it’s strongly advised you’re up early and logged in to ensure you don’t miss out on anything by being late to the game.
One simple trick to try for a purchase you may be planning is to add it into your basket in preparation for Prime Day. It’s an effective strategy, because by the time you log back in, the item may still be available but at a new, lower price, ready for you to hit the buy button. But stay alert, as prices can increase too, so if you found a good deal on something, you should go ahead and purchase it early to avoid disappointment.
Also, don’t forget the marketplace sellers. They’ll be busy on Prime Day and offering one-time deals on their products, and these often involve checking a box on the product page to activate a small or significant discount. But remember, all retailers are aware of the Prime Day event, so double check prices to see if the competition is offering a deal on something you’re looking to buy too, as they won’t want to miss out on this shopping holiday started by Amazon.
function appendFacebookPixels() {
if (window.facebookPixelsDone) return;
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1749355691872662’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
window.facebookPixelsDone = true;
window.dispatchEvent(new Event(‘BrockmanFacebookPixelsEnabled’));
}
window.addEventListener(‘BrockmanTargetingCookiesAllowed’, appendFacebookPixels);
