Tuesday, July 11, is Amazon’s third annual Prime Day, in which the retailer offers an abundance of special offers to Amazon Prime members. In this initial report, we wrap up some of the headline deals that Amazon featured in the US and look at the launch of Prime Day in India. Keep an eye out for our further report wrapping up Prime Day. US Headline Deals Reflect Push into Apparel, Beauty and Grocery Hardline products, and especially electronics, remain at the heart of Prime Day deals. Some of Amazon’s biggest and most prominently featured discounts are on its own ranges of hardware, including its Kindle and Kindle Fire tablets. This year, Amazon has slashed prices on its Echo and Echo Dot devices, too. On its US site, Amazon has cut $40 off its Fire HD Kids Edition tablet and $30 off its Kindle Paperwhite 3-reader. It has halved the price of its Echo device to $89.99 and cut $15 off its smaller Echo Dot device, reducing the price to $29.99. Third-party brands featured in Amazon’s Spotlight Deals include 32% off a Furbo Dog Camera, 30% off a Samsung 28-inch LED television and 44% off a Sportstuff 1030 Paddleboard. However, Amazon’s push into apparel and grocery is evident in its Spotlight Deals, too. In apparel, Amazon is flagging up 40%–50% discounts on clothing, footwear and accessories. Amazon’s private labels, such as Amazon Essentials, Buttoned Down (men’s shirts), Lark & Ro (womenswear) and Mae (lingerie) dominate the deals in fashion. The key takeaway looks to be that Amazon is using Prime Day as a springboard for its still-new, private-label apparel ranges, and encouraging customers to trail the brands at appealing prices. A focus on private labels is evident in adjacent categories such as home textiles, where Amazon is flagging up deals on its Pinzon brand. [caption id="attachment_92498" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Amazon.com[/caption]   Amazon is pushing its private label ranges in grocery, too. It is offering up to 50% off a small number of private-label ambient food items, including snacks and spreads from its own Wickedly Prime range. In nonfood grocery, Amazon is flagging up discounts of 30%–50% on items such as baby diapers. It is offering a “Buy $60, Save $20” deal on household-care products. Notable in grocery is that the headline offers remain focused on ambient grocery products that can be fulfilled by regular mail deliveries—AmazonFresh, which focuses on home delivery of a full range of grocery, is not visibly participating in Prime Day Our reading of Prime Day in the US is that Amazon is using it to showcase its private labels, and that, while electronic products remain core to the offering, Amazon is using the event to support its push into newer categories such as fashion and grocery. [caption id="attachment_92499" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Amazon.com[/caption]   Prime Day Launches in India 2017 is the first year for Prime Day in India. Amazon launched its Prime Membership program in India in July 2016, and we outline some of our observations of Prime Day’s debut in India, below. [caption id="attachment_92500" align="alignright" width="411"] Source: Twitter/Amazon India Newsroom [/caption] The Run Up to Prime Day Amazon India placed billboards around the country to advertise Prime Day. Several major national newspapers carried full, front-page adverts for the event, too. As offers during Prime Day are only available to Prime members, Amazon sent several promotional e-mails and notifications through its app to its members. Amazon India’s social media channels featured a short video showcasing the retail giant’s logistics and supply-chain capabilities, and whimsical photos showing how staff (or Amazonians as they call themselves) are ringing in Prime Day. To drive excitement among members, Amazon India ran seven days of Prime Quiz where customers had to answer questions related to Prime Day offers. Those that answered all questions correctly were placed in a lucky draw to win exclusive offers on Prime Day. On Prime Day Prime Day began at 6pm on July 10, in India, and will run through July 11 for 30 hours. Prime Day offers ranged across various categories, including:

• 40%–70% off apparel and fashion.
• Up to 70% off home and kitchen products.
• Up to 50% off electronics, books and entertainment.
• A minimum of 30% off family essentials.
• INR 1,000 ($15.5) off Fire TV Stick, which is normally priced at INR 3,999 ($62).
• Some of the larger deals were on TVs and other electronics, with offers of up to INR 10,000 ($155) off.

Branded highlights include the following:

• RedMi 4, budget smartphones from Chinese brand Xiaomi, launched a special sale for Prime members an hour before the event started, and several models were quickly sold out.
• Amazon India offered several deals in collaboration with travel marketplace MakeMytrip, entertainment ticket-booking platform BookMyShow and food delivery service Swiggy.
• Amazon used the event to launch several international brands, such as Gap and The Children’s Place, on Amazon India—these brands were previously only available at physical stores in the country.
• The launch of Being Human’s e-cycle is another key highlight, as the brand is owned by Bollywood star Salman Khan who has a massive fan-following in the country.

  [caption id="attachment_92501" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Amazon.in[/caption]   Indian Consumers’ Reactions on Social Media [caption id="attachment_92502" align="alignright" width="315"] Source: Twitter[/caption] Some shoppers took to social media to express their disappointment in Prime Day in India, with some comparing the deals to those in the US and pointing out how they do not match them nor live up to the hype created by the marketing. Our initial reading is that Prime Day did not live up to some Indian shoppers’ expectations, which had been built up by Amazon’s marketing campaign. While there were discounts across numerous categories and products, many of the brands included were either new or less popular. Small-ticket items with limited appeal, such as instant noodles and hair oil, were also part of Prime Day deals. Amazon India may have to do more in India to create the successful buzz it has in the US and the UK. [caption id="attachment_92503" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Twitter[/caption]