In a press release, Greg Greeley, vice president of Amazon Prime, claims “Prime Day is a one-day only event filled with more deals than Black Friday,” but the company did not specify if that means Amazon will offer more deals on July 15 than it did during Black Friday, if the value of the deals will be worth more, or if it hopes Prime Day eventually trumps Black Friday as each year’s main celebration of consumerism (TechCrunch has emailed Amazon for more information).
– Black Friday is so 2014. That's the gist of Amazon's announcement of Prime Day, a "global shopping event, offering more deals than Black Friday" only to Prime members to celebrate its 20th anniversary next week, reports CNNMoney. "Step Aside Black Friday—Meet Prime Day" is the header of today's gently trash-talking press release, deeming July 15 the day when new and existing members in the US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, Canada, and Austria will be able to take advantage of said deals starting at midnight, with new bargains popping up as often as every 10 minutes. "Members tell us every day how much they love Prime and we will keep making it better," the VP of Amazon Prime promises. TechCrunch notes that Amazon's swagger doesn't specify if by "more deals than Black Friday" it means if there will be more deals quantity-wise, if the value of the deals will surpass that of the day after Thanksgiving, or "if it hopes Prime Day eventually trumps Black Friday as each year's main celebration of consumerism." The site adds, though, that Amazon has definitely had a significant effect on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday by reducing prices on 80 million or so of its products (which, subsequently, put more pressure on competitors). If you're not a Prime member and aren't sure yet if you want to cough up the $99 yearly membership, the company is offering a free 30-day trial so you can take part in Prime Day. The big question: Is this a one-off, or is Amazon planning on celebrating Prime Day every year? A spokeswoman says the company "doesn't have any future plans to share" that information, per CNET. (Amazon is still trying to give flight to its drones plan.)