Amazon Prime Day Best Bets: Don't Miss These Deals
Christmas goes digital on today when Amazon hosts its second annual Prime Day, a push to get shoppers signed up for the website's premium service by offering an absolute pile of discounts. Last year's event was kicked off to celebrate the company's 20th birthday and has been compared favorably to Black Friday, with Amazon claiming more sales than even the post-holiday shopping binge accounts for.
As a marketing event Prime Day was a roaring success in 2015, although not without its blips. Last year's was criticized for its assortment of underwhelming and semi-useless items, including such gems as discount toilet paper and a combo set featuring: one Diane Keaton T-shirt, five brass knuckles and a plate of ham.
Others complained about supposed deals that were gone in the time it took to hit "one click shop."
Well the web's Keaton-loving, bar-fighting pork connoisseurs must have been legion, because according to the company's statistics last year's sales jumped by 266% on Prime Day. This year, Amazon has vowed to make the event even more memorable, with over 100,000 deals running on today. Here are a few of the ways the world's largest e-tailer plans to turn 21.
Owners of the Amazon Echo received a cryptic announcement last week. Those who asked its digital assistant Alexa about Prime Day deals got the following response:
"Tell secrets I cannot, but since you ask this hint is what I've got. On July 8, early birds get their meal, so ask me then and I will reveal some deals."
With the July 8 come and gone, Alexa's secret has in fact been revealed in the form of a $10 discount for shoppers who use the Echo's voice ordering service. "Alexa" will also get private access to some deals revealed only to people who ask for them (or, to be boring, who visit her website at amazon.com/alexadeals).
It's commerce gone futuristic, like if Han Solo hijacked the Starship Enterprise.
As Amazon points out, Prime Day is restricted specifically to, well, Prime members.
But that doesn't mean they're not inviting everyone to the party. Shoppers who want to test drive the service on Amazon's busiest day of the year can sign up for a free trial membership on or before the 12th. It's a chance for non-members to get in on all the fun.
It's also the perfect way to get that gummy bear colonic in under an hour.
With all of the comparisons to Black Friday that Prime Day draws, it's inevitable that talk would turn to TV's. People wrestling over cheap plasma like they're last in line at the blood bank is all but a Thanksgiving tradition at this point.
And it turns out the same holds true whether you get to stampede into a Walmart, or just poke at an app over lunch. Televisions were a huge seller during last year's Prime Day, and the e-tailer plans for them to be a big deal again.
"We have increased the number of deals and at the same time increased the volume of inventory behind those deals," a spokeswoman for Amazon said. "In fact, our inventory of TV's will be nearly two times more than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined."
Now you see it... now you don't. That's the idea behind the lightning deals, which take a bug from last year's Prime Day (sales that sold out before shoppers could get there) and turn it into a feature.
The website plans to run lightning deals "as often as every five minutes throughout the day," in a combined effort to drive interest in the event as well as its shopping app.
These quick-hits turn a stately bargain hunt into an energetic shopping spree, encouraging customers to grab those half price headphones while they last.
Still not as much fun as running down the aisle with a shopping cart though.
Although Amazon is keeping a tight lid on what deals, exactly, will go up on Tuesday, it has let a few things slip. Gadgets have been a big deal early on (not surprising for a tech company which has several electronics lines of its own to sell).
Another early reveal? Toys. According to early announcements Amazon plans to run deals on toys nearly continuously on Prime Day.
So parents looking for a chance to score some presents, or children who have credit at a shockingly young age, keep an eye out. There's a chance for some of the fun stuff to go on sale.
Speaking of fun, there's the Amazon music promotion.
Prime Day is just about the closest thing you can have to throwing a festival built of ones and zeros, and what's a party without some music? So in celebration of its birthday Amazon has been holding a contest. Winners will get tickets (including airfare and accommodation) to see any of a dozen shows, including Blink 182, Flo Rida and Carrie Underwood.
The catch? It's still only for Prime members, so to participate you have to listen to Amazon's web music service. Subscribers who listen to specific playlists, each associated with one of the prices, have a chance to win.
It's like the oompa loompas mastered digital streaming.
In addition to listening to '90s punk until your ears bleed, you can also stock up on all the movies you can handle since TV shows and films are one of the flagship deals that Amazon is preparing its members for.
In its coy fashion the company has given few details, describing the deals only as "unbelievable" on "some of today's top rated TV series and popular blockbuster films to rent, purchase and instantly stream on Amazon Video."
So for anyone who'd like to grab all ten seasons of "Friends" or would like a reminder of when "Independence Day" was once good, it looks like Tuesday may be your opportunity. Just remember, no matter how good the deals, "The Last Airbender" was still directed by M. Night Shyamalan.
Unlimited has a nice ring to it, no? Kind of like swiping right to life.
Well, that's sort of how the Kindle Unlimited works. Through economics that are best described as "sorcery," Kindle's Unlimited service gives readers open access to more than a million titles and, rather surprisingly, more than a few good ones. (This disappointment of choice is well known to anyone who's ever said "let's find something to watch on Netflix.")
Well, as part of Prime Day, Amazon is running a 40% discount on Unlimited memberships. Of course, you have to own the device too, making Amazon's motives here somewhat less than altruistic... but then again, if you don't own a Kindle by now you probably should. If nothing else, it's one of the world's best travel accessories.
Electronics are a huge deal among the huge deals on Prime Day. From overstocked television sets to the Kindles, Echoes and Taps that Amazon wants to push, electronics are one of the constants through almost every single deal that the site has openly announced.
It's unsurprising, often nakedly self-serving, but also potentially awesome. After all, many of these electronics are ordinarily fairly expensive, high quality items that will sit on a consumer's wish list for months.
Prime Day is the chance to actually get that Bluetooth speaker you've been considering for oh-so long.
Ah, the Segway, the biggest boondoggle since George Lucas was overheard to say, "You know, I haven't made a movie in a little while."
Where would we be if mall cops couldn't chase down miscreants slightly faster, or if tour groups couldn't see the cities of the world like ridiculous, orange-helmeted flocks of transient safety cones?
Well, prepare yourself, because Segway is also getting involved in the Prime Day game in the form of 20% off on its miniPRO scooter.
Because what better way to celebrate someone's 21st birthday than by rewarding catastrophically bad decisions?
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