Marketplace Briefing: Why Amazon is moving Prime Day to June from July, and what it means for sellers
This is the latest installment of the Marketplace Briefing, a weekly Modern Retail+ column about the ever-changing e-commerce marketplace landscape. More from the series →
Amazon is planning to move Prime Day to June from its usual July slot this year, according to two people briefed on the matter, shaking up the timing of a sales event many brands rely on.
The change would move up a marquee summer shopping moment that has become a major revenue driver for both Amazon and the independent sellers that make up roughly 60% of its marketplace sales. For Amazon, an earlier Prime Day represents a strategic counter to the increasingly crowded summer sales season. Major retailers including Walmart and Target, as well as newer players like TikTok Shop, have launched competing summer sales to capitalize on Prime Day’s consumer momentum, effectively turning the entire month into a nonstop promotional blitz.
Amazon has not officially announced this year’s Prime Day dates, but the event is expected to take place in late June, the people said. Bloomberg was the first to report Amazon’s plans to move the event to late June. Amazon declined to comment.
Launched in 2015, Prime Day started as a way to boost Amazon’s $139-per-year Prime membership program, which gives subscribers access to fast shipping and exclusive discounts. The event proved so popular that Amazon expanded it to two days and later added a second Prime Day in October 2022. The last time Amazon held Prime Day in June was in 2021.
The change could help Amazon pull sales into the first half of the year. Sellers, meanwhile, say they are approaching this year’s event with more flexibility than last year, as lower tariff pressure gives them more room to run promotions.
Amit Dodeja, chief marketing officer at Spreetail, which works with 200 brands that primarily sell on Amazon, said the shift may help fill a gap in Amazon’s sales calendar.
“Amazon currently doesn’t have any major high velocity events in its first half,” Dodeja said. “A late June Prime Day solves for that H1 gap, as well as pulls in demand ahead.”
The move would mark one of the most significant structural changes to Prime Day in recent years, following Amazon’s decision last year to expand the event from two days to four. While last year’s longer Prime Day event gave shoppers more time to browse, it also weakened the urgency that typically fuels deal-driven buying. Tariff-related pressures also curbed some sellers’ ability to offer steep discounts.
An earlier start this year could benefit seasonal brands whose products are more relevant earlier in the summer.
“It gives a huge opportunity for brands who are kind of in the summer seasonal category to have a really great year,” Dodeja said.
While the strategic rationale may make sense for Amazon, the timing could present challenges for sellers who typically plan inventory months in advance. Sucharita Kodali, a principal analyst at Forrester, said the biggest concern may be whether sellers have enough time to prepare.
“The biggest challenge is for sellers,” she said. “They often have to get their ducks in a row a year in advance in order to even provide merchandise for Prime Day.” She added that even a few weeks’ difference could create complications.
Similarly, Dodeja said brands that have not already locked in inventory could face pressure. “Now that the inventory timeline has shrunk and compressed, you’ve got several fewer weeks to plan,” he said. However, he added that some brands may already be prepared, depending on their planning cycles. “The brands that we work with already have the inventory in place,” he said.
Sellers see both risks and opportunities
Some sellers said the change could have mixed effects depending on their inventory position and product mix.
Chuck Gregorich, who runs the outdoor goods brand Net Health Shops, said the earlier timing could reduce his flexibility to use Prime Day as a way to clear late-season inventory. “I like that,” Gregorich said of the traditional July timing, noting it helped him discount products toward the end of the selling season. But he added he is keeping an open mind about the change. “I could see it both ways,” he said.
At the same time, Gregorich said his company expects to have sufficient inventory this year, which could allow for more aggressive promotions compared to last year, when much of his inventory was tied up in China because of steep duties on imports.
“This year, I can probably really turn the sales on and really generate a lot more sales,” he said.
Monil Kothari, founder and CEO of fine jewelry brand Haus of Brilliance, said the shift is unlikely to fundamentally change his company’s annual performance, but it could distort quarterly comparisons. For example, he said June sales may get a boost from Prime Day while July could look “super weak” because it is typically a slower month for jewelry.
“I don’t think it’s going to materially change the overall business for the year,” Kothari said. “It’s just kind of annoying more than anything.”
Still, Kothari said improved tariff conditions compared to last year could allow some sellers to offer deeper discounts. He said he may be able to offer discounts of around 25% this year, compared to discounts of 20% last year.
“We might be able to be more aggressive on promotions this June, because technically, our duties have fallen substantially since the Supreme Court ruling,” he said.
What I’m reading
- Walmart is pulling back back from OpenAI’s ChatGPT checkout after conversions came in three times lower than on its own site, per Wired.
- Sephora is launching its app inside ChatGPT, the company announced.
- Amazon is developing a new AI-focused smartphone more than a decade after its failed Fire Phone, Reuters reported.