Amazon Prime Day 2023: What you need to know about finding hot deals during annual event
Although it doesn’t quite approach the rarified air of Black Friday, Amazon Prime Day remains one of the year’s most frenzied and deal-laden online shopping sprints, with big price breaks on everything from smart tech gadgets to kitchen appliances, fashion, toys, home décor, among many other items.
The 2023 edition of annual promotion officially starts at 3 a.m. on Tuesday, July 11, and runs through July 12, but early deals are already available for Prime members. To check it out, log in to your Amazon Prime account, or sign up here to access the limited-time deals.
Meanwhile, here’s what you need to know about Amazon Prime Day 2023, courtesy of amazon.com:
What's the history of Prime Day?
Prime Day was created to celebrate Prime members. The first Prime Day event was presented on Amazon’s 20th birthday on July 15, 2015.
A look at Prime Day's hot deals: Amazon Prime Day 2023 starts in two days—shop Amazon deals on tech, home, more
Prime Day has always unfolded in mid-July, except for the pandemic year of 2020 when it was pushed back to mid-October.
What kind of deals are offered during Prime Day?
Amazon offers several types of Prime Day promotions:
Deals of the Day last 24 hours, so many of them available July 11 may not be available July 12, but there will be more new offers on the second day of the sale. This could mean placing more than one order, but free shipping is available to all Prime members.
Lightning Deals are even more limited promotions on specific items. They usually last only for a certain amount of time — usually just a few hours — or until an item sells out. New Lightning Deals can pop up as quickly as every 5 minutes.
Alexa Deals are offers available exclusively via Amazon’s voice-powered digital assistant. Ask an Echo smart speaker “Alexa, what are your deals?” to access exclusive offers not available elsewhere, or access to certain deals an hour or so before they are available on the Amazon website. You can also download the Alexa app to access these offers if you don’t own an Alexa-enabled device.
What's the best way to prepare for Prime Day shopping?
You must be a Prime member or start a free trial to participate.
According to Amazon, there are more than 200 million paid Prime members in 25 countries around the world. In the United States, Prime membership costs $14.99 per month or $139 per year, with a free 30-day trial available if eligible.
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Once you’ve checked the membership box, Amazon recommends some additional ways to prepare:
Get the newsletter: If you’re already a Prime member and have chosen to opt in to receiving emails, look out for the Prime Insider newsletter in your inbox to keep up with the growing list of member benefits and find updates on deals and events.
Create deal alerts for personalized recommendations: Prime members can subscribe to receive deal alert notifications related to their recent Amazon searches and recently viewed items. Visit the Prime Day event page on the Amazon app between now and Prime Day to create deal alerts. Once Prime Day arrives, members will receive push notifications on any available deals.
Get deal notifications from Alexa: Prime members never have to worry about missing a deal thanks to Alexa. Prime members can ask Alexa for deal notifications on products added to their Wish List, Cart, or Save for Later. To get started, just ask, “Alexa, add [product name] to my cart,” and then ask Alexa to notify you about the deal when it’s live.
Set a reminder: Prime members can tell their Alexa devices, “Remind me when Prime Day starts,” to be alerted when the two-day deals event begins.
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More tips for scoring Prime Day deals
Here are more Prime Day shopping ideas from Consumer Reports:
Download Amazon’s smartphone app. It allows you to get a “sneak peek” advance notice of deals and to sign up for alerts. The app will also let you see upcoming Lightning Deals before they’re active. You can use the app to create a “Watch this deal” list, so you can get notifications when a deal is about to go live. You can also add items directly to your cart and then select “Save for Later” to quickly review the prices of products you want.
Click on the “Join Waitlist” button on the Amazon website or app for Lightning Deal items that have sold out. Items are deleted from a person’s shopping cart after 15 minutes if they haven’t completed the purchase, and you’ll get an alert if you’re next in line.
Turn on 1-Click purchases to speed up your checkout. Go to your Amazon account and click on the “1-Click settings” link. You can then set up or check your payment method and shipping address.
Use the free Amazon Assistant plug-in. It’s available for most common browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Edge, and Safari. The plug-in can help you compare products and prices while searching and shopping online or get notifications when deals go live. It also provides Amazon shortcuts right in your browser. (Keep in mind that Amazon Assistant allows the company to do some tracking of your browsing behavior, as described in the plug-in’s privacy policy.)
Compare prices. Other retailers, including Target and Walmart, are running their own sales at the same time. Target’s Circle Week will run July 9-15 and Walmart+ Week is happening July 11-13. Search for the products you want on their sites before buying from Amazon to make sure you’re getting the best price.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Prime Day tips: How to make the most of Amazon's big online event
