Will Amazon (AMZN) Postpone Prime Day Due to Coronavirus?
Amazon AMZN is planning to defer the annual Prime Day sales event at least until August. The company usually holds the Prime Day in July on an annual basis.
Amazon’s rumored Prime Day delay can be attributed to the significant coronavirus impact on the economy.
Amazon’s Prime Day
The e-commerce behemoth had witnessed a notable surge in sales in annual Prime Day 2019.
A record number of Prime members had shopped for more than 175 million products across 18 countries during the event, which extended for 48 hours in 2019 compared with 36 and 30 hours in 2018 and 2017, respectively.
According to e-commerce research company Edison Trends, online shoppers spent more than 10 times money on Amazon in the first day than they did on Walmart WMT and eBay EBAY combined. Sales in the first 24 hours were up 53% in 2019 from 2018.
The bestselling products were Amazon devices Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote and Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote. Fire tablets also saw their highest sales on the first day, with Fire 7 tablet being the top seller. The other hot products were iRobot Roomba 690 Robot Vacuum, MyQ Smart Garage Door Opener Chamberlain MYQ-G0301 and Amazon Smart Plug.
Amazon.com, Inc. Price and Consensus
Bottom Line
With the coronavirus pandemic showing no signs of dissipating any time soon, people are compelled to stay indoors. This, in turn, has led to an increase in online shopping, which could delay Amazon prime deliveries.
In addition, the company is already facing protests by workers regarding coronavirus protection. As there is already a scarcity of workers amid the coronavirus outbreak, the company is making all efforts to take proper care of the welfare of workers during this time. Hence, any additional Amazon Prime Day orders would be much harder to fulfill.
This coronavirus-induced interruption could have a major impact on its sales. Reportedly, the company expects a $100-million hit during the period from the unsold devices. The company also sees a risk to cloud computing sales in France, which can further impact the top line.
Nevertheless, such decisions like delaying Prime Day are unavoidable during turbulent timeslike these.
Zacks Rank & Stock to Consider
Currently, Amazon carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the broader technology sector is Stamps.com Inc. STMP, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Long-term earnings growth for Stamps.com is currently projected at 15%.
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