UK retailers ‘hijack’ Amazon Prime Day

UK retailers have attempted to ‘hijack’ Amazon Prime Day by offering discounts in the run up to the sale event.

According to retail sales aggregator LovetheSales.com, 30% more discounted products are currently available to consumers than usual at this time of year. The company has suggested that this “unusual discounting” has been implemented by retailers en masse in order to steer customers away from Amazon before the event.

Amazon Prime Day takes place on 16 July and is a worldwide sales event for shoppers who have Amazon Prime membership. Last year Prime Day saw Amazon net $1bn (£750m) of revenue in just 30 hours – a 60% increase in revenue on the previous year.

Since the beginning of July, the average discount per product has also increased by four points, from 32% to 36%. This is in contrast with 2017, where the volume of products on sale during late June and early July from retailers remained flat.

LovetheSales said traditionally discounts from retailers on electronics drop after promotions in May. In July 2017, there was a 20% decrease of electronics products on offer compared to a 14% increase this July – a difference of 34%. The website also said that retailers were currently discounting 15% more electronics than Black Friday 2017.

The volume of Xbox One consoles on sale has shot up by 337% and PS4 consoles discounted has increased by 387% in the past week. This is five times more console offers than at Christmas time. Retailers have added 66% more laptops to the sales with brands like Lenovo and HP seeing the largest increase of 125% and 94% respectively.

The number of tablet computers on sale has increased by 110%, coffee machines by 36% and printers by 49%. Other discounts include cameras with 15% more on sale while speaker docks have increased by 5%. The number of Apple products on sale has also risen by 24%.

Stuart McClure, founder and CMO of LovetheSales.com, said: “Data from July 2018 is showing a significant shift from the norm as retailers look to take the fight to Amazon. The fact that there are more discounts on electricals now than there was during the last Black Friday is staggering.

“Although Prime Day is still in its infancy, it’s quickly gathering pace and becoming one of the biggest shopping events of the year. Unlike Black Friday though, where retailers took time to catch up and see Amazon’s game, retailers are now on the front foot and are trying to beat Amazon to the punch.”