You’ve definitely heard of Amazon Prime Day even if you’ve never bought something during the event.
asserted
you → hear → event
It’s nearly impossible to avoid: Leading up to the Prime member-exclusive sale, there are commercials about it on YouTube, influencers posting about it on social media, flashy billboards advertising it in Times Square and media outlets (like NBC Selected) telling you everything you need to know about it.
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you → ’ → it
At this point, Prime Day is fully embedded in consumer culture — that’s especially impressive considering it’s only been around for about a decade, and it’s not tied to the winter holiday shopping season like Black Friday and Cyber Monday are.
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Friday → embed → season
Ever since its inception, Amazon has scaled Prime Day to record-breaking heights.
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Amazon → scale → heights
The event generates billions of dollars in global sales and drives up e-commerce activity across retailers.
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event → generate → retailers
This year, Prime Day made already made history as Amazon’s most profitable sale ever, even though the retailer made major changes to its format.
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retailer → make → format
And with Prime Big Deal Days, a.k.a. October Prime Day, coming up on Oct. 6, the retailer has another chance to impress shoppers with discounts and blow performance expectations out of the water.
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retailer → come → water
To contextualize Prime Day and its impact on e-commerce, I charted its history over the past 11 years.
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I → contextualize → years
I also consulted experts about its growth, what it signals about consumer behavior and whether deals are actually worth buying.
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deals → consult → behavior
The first-ever Prime Day took place on July 15, 2015 to celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary, according to Amazon.
uncertain
Day → take → Amazon
It lasted 24 hours and was available to members in nine countries.
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It → last → countries
Since 2015, Prime Day has expanded its reach — Amazon now hosts the sale for four days in over 20 countries, and it runs a second version of Prime Day, Prime Big Deal Days, in October to kick off the holiday shopping season.
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it → expand → season
One of the factors that makes Prime Day so unique is that it’s an event Amazon manufactured, unlike Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which are tied to the holiday shopping season.
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which → make → season
Prime Day (the first one, anyway) is traditionally held between the end of June and mid-July, which is a strategic decision on the company’s part: The summer is a slow period for retailers, and Prime Day is an attempt to remedy that.
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Day → hold → that
“Prime Day provides Amazon with a jolt during an otherwise dormant shopping season,” says Dr. Ross Steinman, a professor of consumer psychology at Widener University.
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Steinman → provide → University
Hosting Prime Day during the week is a strategic decision, too: Summer weekends are reserved for relaxing, sleeping in, leisure activities and traveling, but Amazon knows it can capture shoppers’ attention during the week when they’re using their phones and computers more.
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they → host → phones
Why does Amazon host Prime Day?
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Amazon → host → Day
There’s three big reasons why Amazon hosts Prime Day: to attract new Prime members, retain the members it already has and drive sales to its marketplace.
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it → ’ → marketplace
Amazon’s goal is to accrue an army of repeat shoppers who take advantage of everything a Prime membership offers them year-round, not just during one big sale.
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membership → accrue → sale
Prime Day acts as an entry point for new Prime membership sign-ups, and a way to remind existing members why the loyalty program is worth $139 a year (up from its original $99 price at inception).
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program → remind → inception
The sale puts Prime’s benefits on full display and exposes shoppers to the retailer’s “ecosystem of consumption,” meaning its network of platforms like Prime Music, Whole Foods grocery delivery, Prime Video, Audible and Kindle Unlimited.
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sale → put → Music
And once you’re in Amazon’s ecosystem, it’s hard to leave, says Steinman.
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Steinman → ’re → ecosystem
“Amazon’s goal is to be sticky,” he says.
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he → say → ?
“Consumers in the Amazon ecosystem are going to spend largely double what non-Prime members will.”
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members → go → what
As for driving sales to Amazon’s marketplace, hundreds of brands offer deals during Prime Day, but those the retailer owns, like Fire, Kindle, Ring and Blink, tend to drop prices the most.
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retailer → drive → prices
Discounting Amazon-owned devices is particularly lucrative for the retailer because they’re designed to increase your purchases on Amazon, says Steinman.
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Steinman → discount → Amazon
The majority of this tech is equipped with Amazon Alexa, a virtual assistant who can notify you about deals and make purchases if you give her permission.
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you → equip → permission
There’s one more reason Prime Day is such an important event for the company: “It’s a stress test for the holidays,” says Steinman.
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Steinman → ’ → holidays
“Prime Day creates an artificial surge in orders, similar to what the retailer experiences between November and December, so it provides Amazon with an opportunity to do a test run.
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it → create → run
They can see if they need to work out any kinks as they get closer to the formal holiday shopping season.
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they → see → season
Amazon Prime Day started as a 24-hour event in 2015, and it gradually extended in length before becoming known as a 48-hour event between 2019 and 2024.
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it → start → 2019
Then, in 2025, Amazon doubled Prime Day to four days, which seems to be the new norm, at least for now — 2026 was the second year with this timeframe.
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2026 → double → timeframe
Experts agree that making Prime Day four days long was a wise move on the retailer’s part, but there’s more to it than assuming more time to shop equals more purchases — it’s also about optics.
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it → agree → optics
“When you expand into a four-day event, you’re really putting an anchor down and saying, ‘this is a Black Friday shopping type moment,’ signaling to consumers that’s what they should expect,” says Vivek Pandya, the manager of Adobe Digital Insights.
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Pandya → expand → Insights
Extending Prime Day aligns with shoppers’ general awareness around the sale, too.
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Extending → extend → sale
Hosting it under a tight time constraint built hype, which worked well to draw consumers in during the early years.
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which → host → years
But now, Prime Day is permanently embedded in the retail calendar, so Amazon doesn’t need to build the same type of excitement around it.
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Amazon → embed → it
Instead, the retailer may as well give shoppers the opportunity to make multiple transactions, says Pandya.
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Pandya → give → transactions
Finally, a four-day sale acknowledges that consumers are adopting more advanced budget management strategies as they’re concerned about the current volatile economic environment, says Steinman.
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Steinman → acknowledge → environment
They’re deliberately looking for deals using browser extensions to track prices, for example, because they want to find real value — a longer timeframe to shop lets them do so.
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them → look → value
…and 65 more, not listed.
The Aporia
