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Amazon Prime Day is basically a summertime Black Friday.
Name one person who doesn’t shop on Amazon. You can’t do it, right? ZDNet has detailed Amazon’s every move for years now, including its insane growth and the dreaded e-commerce effect it’s had on retail as a whole. But, doom and gloom aside, one of the more fun aspects of this company is its Amazon Prime Day fire-sale event.
Pitched as Amazon’s “holiday of savings,” it’s been giving Black Friday a run for its money — while also likely making Walmart and other rival stores wince with jealousy.
Here’s what you need to know about Prime Day.
(Image: Julie Clopper / Getty Images)
What is Amazon Prime Day?
Amazon celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2015 by offering a full-day sales event on Amazon.com. The company offered deep discounts on Amazon-branded products as well as tens of thousands of other items from third-party sellers. The entire event, called Prime Day, was a huge success, and so Amazon has turned it into an annual sales extravaganza.
Read also: When is Amazon Prime Day 2019? CNET
When is Amazon Prime Day 2019?
Last year, Prime Day started earlier than ever — just like Black Friday — and it spanned a full 36 hours. While Amazon has yet to announce when Prime Day 2019 will be held, a recent leak suggested it will start on July 15 and end July 16.
Where are Amazon Prime Day 2019 deals available?
Prime Day deals are available in the US, UK, Spain, Mexico, Japan, India, Italy, Germany, France, China, Canada, Belgium, Austria,Australia, Singapore, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
Also: Amazon Prime Day 2019 deals CNET
(Image: kasinv / Getty Images)
What can you expect from Amazon Prime Day 2019?
Last year, Prime Day featured deals at Whole Foods. Prime members in the US received an extra 10% off hundreds of sale items and “deep discounts” on select products. We expect a similar Whole Foods deal this year. Amazon also tends to offer “Prime Day Launches” — special-edition products that are available just for Prime members for a limited time.
Amazon will likely slowly announce deals, including when they will go live on Prime Day. Expect some to last the full two days, while others will be quick deals you need to jump on. It is safe to assume Amazon’s own products will be reduced. We anticipate deep cuts on Fire TVs, Fire tablets, Kindle e-readers, and Echo devices.
Elsewhere, look for Black Friday-style deals across the entire site.
Also: How to make the most of Amazon Prime Day TechRepublic
Best Amazon Prime Day 2019 deals
We will offer round-ups of amazing early deals and even anti-Prime Day deals from rival retailers. Bookmark this page and be sure to check back closer to Prime Day. We’ll have top deal guides with more information. CNET, our sister site, will also cover all the best Prime Day tech deals by category, so stay tuned for those, too.
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Can anyone shop Amazon Prime Day?
Prime Day, naturally, is aimed at Amazon Prime subscribers. The service costs $119 per year (or $12.99 per month), but students get half off and there’s a 30-day free trial. Prime gives Amazon shoppers a few distinct advantages, including free one- or two-day shipping on most items, as well as access to Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Pantry, Prime Now, etc.
Read also: What is Amazon Prime? (CNET)
If you’ve never subscribed to Prime, you can get a free one-month trial. We recommend signing up in early July in order to shop Prime Day during the trial period.
Go here to subscribe to Amazon PrimeGo here to start your free Amazon Prime trial
(Image: seewhatmitchsee / Getty Images)
How to find the best deals on Amazon Prime Day 2019
Here are our tips on how to take full advantage of Amazon’s sales event.
Prime Day 2019 hub
If you want to a one-stop shop with all the best deals, visit the company’s Prime Day 201hub. It’ll have the lowest prices and sales across a range of categories. In past years, a new deal was posted every five minutes over the 30-hour Prime Day sale.
Go to Amazon’s Prime Day 201 hub
Voice-shop with Amazon Alexa
Amazon tends to give people a head start on deals if they voice-shop with Alexa. It did the same thing with Black Friday in the past — giving voice shoppers up to a seven-hour lead. To order something by voice, just say to your Alexa device, “Alexa, what are your deals” followed by “Alexa, add [the item] to my cart.” Alexa will confirm your order, but if you prefer, you can set up a 4-digit pin within the Alexa app to prevent unintended purchases.
Learn how to voice-shop with Alexa
Amazon Assistant
Amazon Assistant is a free browser plugin (for Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Microsoft Edge) that lets you watch for product comparisons, provides shortcuts to popular Amazon hubs, and issues desktop notifications when deals that you’re watching go live.
Get Amazon Assistant
Deals of the day, Lighting deals, and Prime Early Access deals
Amazon also has its regular ” Gold Box Deals of the Day.” However, since it is Prime Day, these sales should be extra noteworthy. If Prime Day 2019 is like last year’s event, there will be new deals going live every five minutes, including “Lightning Deals”, which are limited-time and often end in minutes.
And finally, there’s Prime Early Access deals, a type of Lightning Deal for Prime members. Amazon typically gives Prime members 30-minute early access to certain deals, though all deals are only available while supplies last. To stay on top of these different deals, use Amazon’s app, where you can view most deals 24 hours in advance and sign up for alerts.
You can also go here to see deals you’re watching, and you can get the deals delivered to you via Amazon’s daily deals email.
Go to GoldBox Deals of the day (select Deal of the day)Go to Lightning deals (select Lightning deals)Go to Prime Early Access deals (select Prime Early Access)See the Amazon deals you’re watchingSubscribe to Amazon’s daily deals email
Amazon Coupons
Did you know Amazon.com has coupons? There’s actually an entire hub on Amazon where you can find coupons for electronics, pet supplies, toys, and other items. Just go to Amazon.com, then click on the link at the top for “Today’s Deals,” and in the menu of sub items, click on “Coupons” (or use this link).
When you find an item you want to buy, click on the “Clip this coupon” button near the price to clip the coupon. When you’re done shopping, go to your cart and check out. In the cart details, you will see the coupon amount deducted from your total.
Go to Amazon Coupons
Try CamelCamelCamel, Wikibuy, or Honey
If you want to check a deal’s price against what Amazon has charged in the past, try CamelCamelCamel. It’s a free Amazon price tracker that monitors millions of products.
Wikibuy browser is similar to CamelCamelCamel — only it’s an extension for Chrome that lets you check to see if a deal is at its lowest price on the web. Another extension is Honey. It instantly informs you if any third-party sellers have the same product for a lower price.
Go to CamelCamelCamelGet WikiBuyGet Honey
Check competitor sites
Finally, be sure to check other shopping sites. Walmart, Best Buy, and other retailers have been known to roll out their own sales on Prime Day in an attempt to lure shoppers.
Disclosure: ZDNet may earn a commission from some of the products featured on this page.
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