Target aims at Amazon as it preps for another Prime Day melee

Dive Brief:

• Target followed close behind Amazon’s Prime Day announcement Tuesday with its own sale on July 15 and 16, overlapping with Amazon’s 48-hour sale event.
• In a press release, Target highlighted the “no membership required” nature of its deals on thousands of items, a dig at Amazon and its Prime membership required for shopping during the event. Target also touted same-day shipping through its Shipt subsidiary, drive-up and in-store pickup services, and free shipping on orders more than $35 or with its store card.
• Mark Tritton, Target’s executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, said in the release that last year’s one-day summer sale (on Prime Day) was one of its largest online sales days of the year.

Dive Insight:

Prime Day tagalongs are becoming as much of a tradition as Amazon’s self-started holiday. RetailMeNot estimates 250 retailers will launch sales on Prime Day this year, up from 194 last year and just seven in 2015, the first year of the event. 

Nearly 20% of shoppers plan to spend $300 on that day, with 60% setting aside more than $100, according to research from Bazaarvoice​ emailed to Retail Dive. More than half will shop for shoes and apparel, ​44% for consumer electronics and 48% for home goods and appliances, Bazaarvoice​ said.

Target is one of consumers’ top alternatives, that research also found. Nearly a third say they expect to find better deals outside of Amazon on Prime Day, while 31% want to head to physical stores. Walmart is the top destination, with 44% going there, with 40% saying they’ll go to Target, 24% to Best Buy and 18% to Macy’s, Bazaarvoice said.

“Mid-July is now one of the busiest times of the shopping season and serves as a precursor to holiday shopping,” Bazaarvoice Chief Revenue Officer Joe Rohrlich said in a statement. “To prepare accordingly, brands and retailers should offer competitive pricing, take advantage of their brick-and-mortar presence, and showcase influential, authentic review content.”

Amazon, in other words, has made sales on the days of its choosing unavoidable for a wide swath of the industry. But even as more retailers have gotten in on the action, it remains a huge sales event for the e-tailer who started it. 

Amazon said in 2018 that Prime Day that year surpassed Cyber Monday, Black Friday and the previous Prime Day. Cumulative sales for the first 12 hours of the 36-hour period were up 89% over last year, according to data from Feedvisor. 

Target, for its part, used Prime Day last year to spur back-to-school sales with special teacher discounts for the week. It also leaned on its stores to fulfill orders, with employees across the company preparing millions of orders for delivery that week. 

“Prime Day is no longer about Amazon, even though Amazon is a primary beneficiary of Prime Day,” Steve Barr, PwC’s consumer markets leader, told Retail Dive last year. “For retailers, you either pay to play or lose short-term sales and consumers and run the risk of further eroding their relationship with consumers as they get pulled more and more into the Amazon ecosystem.”