Marketplace Amazon postpones its major summer shopping event, Prime Day, according to Reuters. This is due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Usually, the event takes place in July.
At this moment, it is unlikely the event will happen at least in August. It expects a potential $100 million hit from excess devices it might now sell at a discount.
The marketing event started in 2015 to boost sales during the summer shopping lull. It previously occurred in July, though the company never publishes the date far in advance.
This decision means Amazon has about 5 million extra devices it would have expected to sell sooner. These are items such as its suite of voice-controlled Echo speakers. Third-party retailers are affected just as well, as they have come to depend on Amazon's platform for revenue.
Although Amazon never publishes exact revenue numbers from its Prime Day event, it states merchants contributed to $2 billion in sales during the event in 2019. At that time, the event spanned 48 hours and 18 countries.
