When Amazon makes a move, other retailers often follow. And so it goes with "one of its greatest inventions," as one analyst put it: Prime Day.
Minneapolis-based Target is one of the latest retailers to announce it will hold an online sale next week in response to Amazon's made-up holiday.
"Target's one-day sale is for everybody – no membership required," the company says in its announcement.
Its sale includes dozens of deals such as 30 percent off Target-owned home brands and 25 percent off beauty and personal care items. In addition, it is offering a free six-month membership to Shipt, Target's same-day delivery service that usually costs $99 a year, to customers who spend $100 at Target.com that day.
In the last few years, as Amazon has drummed up more excitement about its version of a "Christmas in July" sale, other retailers have also stepped up their game and held online sales in response. This year should be no exception, especially as Amazon promises deals on more items and extends the hours of its sale.
"More so than ever, we expect other retailers to roll out a heavy dose of promotions ahead, during, and after Prime Day in hopes of attracting shoppers and dollars, with some of the more challenged retailers facing the tough decision of how low to go," Charlie O'Shea, a retail analyst with Moody's, said in a statement.
Amazon created Prime Day in 2015 to mark its 20th anniversary. In addition to generating additional sales, it's aimed at boosting Prime memberships, the annual price for which Amazon recently increased to $119.
This year, Amazon says it will offer deals on more than a million products, which will include for the first time discounts on groceries at its subsidiary Whole Foods. Prime Day will actually span two days this year and will run for 36 hours, 6 hours longer than last year, starting on Monday afternoon (July 16) and running through Tuesday (July 17).
"The two previous Prime Days both broke Amazon's single-day sales record, a trend we fully expect to continue," Andrew Murphy, an analyst with Minneapolis-based Loup Ventures, wrote in a research note.
In line with previous years, he expects Amazon will sell 60 percent more units on Prime Day this year compared to last year.
Of course, Amazon will likely even have bigger sales days during the biggest shopping days of the holiday season such as on Cyber Monday.
"With Prime Day, Amazon is doing what it does best — value and convenience — to tighten its grip on the 100 million Prime Members, and counting," said Murphy.
