Amazon postponed its annual Prime Day from July to a date TBD, but new rumors — with a hint of evidence — suggest it may be happening in mid-October. The latest rumor mill was set off after tech site T3 discovered a promotional poster from Braun, titled “Braun x Prime Day,” which reads, “In mid-October Braun will be taking part in Amazon Prime Day.” The T3 post has since been removed.
An Amazon spokesperson told The Verge in an email, however, that the company hasn’t made any announcement regarding the exact timing of the event. “We can confirm PD will take place in Q4,” the spokesperson says.
The fiscal year’s fourth quarter starts October 1st, but, according to Tamebay, a publication for Amazon third-party sellers, Black Friday deals are likely to begin showing up on Amazon somewhere around October 26th and run for several weeks. If one assumes Amazon would want to keep Prime Day and Black Friday sales separate, an October 12th or October 19th Prime Day, seems a bit late in the game. CNBC reported in July that Amazon told third-party sellers to expect Prime Day to happen on October 5th, which seems like a more likely date.
The annual celebration of consumerism usually starts on a Monday, and last year’s Prime Day was spread out over two days. The company doesn’t disclose official sales tallies for the event, but analysts estimated Prime Day 2019 brought in somewhere around $6 billion. Last year, Amazon warehouse workers staged a Prime Day strike to protest working conditions at the company.
Amazon is one of the few companies that’s fared well during the coronavirus pandemic, reporting that its net profit doubled year-over-year in the second quarter, to $5.2 billion. That’s despite the company spending $4 billion on coronavirus-related costs in Q2. Amazon warehouse workers have protested that the company has not done enough to protect them from COVID-19, however, and at least eight warehouse workers have died from the virus.
Update September 18th, 4:00PM ET: Adds that T3’s post on the Braun poster announcement has been removed.
