New York (CNN Business) Amazon's Prime Day will return for the fifth time next month, and this year the discount holiday will run for two entire days.

Amazon announced that Prime Day this year will start at midnight on Monday, July 15, and run for 48 hours. The company boasts that the event will include more than a million deals around the world, such as steep discounts on Alexa-enabled devices.

In 2018, Prime Day lasted 36 hours, which was longer than in prior years. Amazon tested out its inaugural Prime Day in July of 2015 to celebrate its 20th anniversary. It designed the day to replicate Black Friday for Amazon die-hards.

Prime Day has since become Amazon's annual summer show of force in the shopping world.

Amazon gets to flex its muscles over its competition and juice its quarterly sales numbers . But, more importantly, Amazon uses the savings event to spotlight its own products and hook new members on Prime, a subscription program that more than 100 million people around the world count on as an indispensable part of their shopping lives.

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