Nigerians shopping on popular e-commerce site, Amazon, will need to wait longer for the annual discounted sales, as the company has announced on Tuesday that its biggest shopping event, “Prime Day” has been postponed indefinitely.
No date has been provided for the annual two days discounted summer sales event, which was typically held in mid-July, but the company says details will be made public in due time.
“Over the last five years, Prime Day has become a special celebration and time for prime members to shop incredible deals for themselves and for friends and family, and it’s something we look forward to every year.
“This year we’ll be holding Prime Day later than usual while ensuring the safety of our employees and supporting our customers and selling partners,” Amazon said in a statement.
There are fears, however, that the rise in unemployment caused by the pandemic might affect enthusiasm towards the event, due to less purchasing power in the hands of customers, but Amazon is hopeful that the already-increased traffic in orders would be sustained due to discount in prices.
Why it matters
The company’s services only returned to normal recently, after months of dealing with supply chain shortages and delivery delays caused by the flood of orders during the lockdown.
Also, the recent upsurge in cases in the United States might have affected logistics operations for the company again, causing it to postpone the shopping event until it is stable to handle shipping to all locations.
A former Amazon manager and now a partner at brand consultancy Buy Box Experts, James Thomson told CNBC that if Amazon can secure new prime subscribers or push shoppers to buy its own devices, Prime Day will still be considered a success for the company, as those things help draw more customers into the Amazon ecosystem where they’re likely to remain and spend more money over the long-term.
Backstory
There had been speculations that Amazon might postpone the event, due to a change in sales trends caused by the coronavirus pandemic, especially after Amazon told third-party sellers to use the week of Oct. 5 as a “placeholder date” for Prime Day promotions and coupons.
This is, so far, the only hint as to what the new date might be.
