Amazon's annual Prime Day 2020 event is rumored to be taking place in October following some COVID-related delays. Normally, Prime Day takes place mid-July each year, and this will be the first time since the event started a few years ago that it is being delayed. Consumers have been affected by an economic slowdown and Amazon has suffered from product supply issues along with delays for fulfillment, making the delay a smart move.

If Amazon does indeed have Prime Day 2020 during October, that will likely be the unofficial kickoff for the whole 2020 holiday shopping season with millions of the best deals. It's likely we will see Amazon go hard with the deals in an effort to gobble up some of the early shopping shares, and will carry the momentum through the month and into November ahead of Black Friday.

Let's dive into some of the things that we do know while we await Amazon's official announcement about Prime Day 2020.

When is Amazon Prime Day 2020?

Amazon has gone on the record saying that Prime Day 2020 will take place "later this year" and that the company hopes to share more details soon. Usually, Prime Day takes place in mid-July, though now we are looking at the big shopping event happening sometime in October instead. This follows an intial report that the event was delayed until just August, then September. Late last week a new promotional image surfaced that showed a mid-October date, which is rapidly approaching.

Prime Day was a 48-hour event in 2019 and it started on a Monday morning and ran through the end of day on Tuesday. Odds are we see something very similar happen in 2020. With all this information, it's likely that we will see Prime Day 2020 start on one of the following dates:

October 5, 2020 (Monday)

October 12, 2020 (Monday)

October 19, 2020 (Monday)

October 26, 2020 (Monday)

Initially we had pegged July 13, 2020 as the date for Prime Day 2020 based on previous year's trends, but that's not likely anymore. Amazon tends to go for a mid-July date each year, so we would think that October 12 is the front runner. A new rumor has pegged Apple's iPhone 12 announcement to be taking place on October 12 as well, which could make for a very interesting day if that lines up. A new report from CNET is pointing to October 13 being the start of the event this year, though Amazon is not confirming that yet.

We are still waiting for confirmation from Amazon on the event, so be sure to stay tuned for more information!

When will Amazon Prime Day 2020 be announced?

In normal years, Amazon announces the Prime Day date at the end of June and it's usually about two weeks later, which puts it in the middle of July. We originally thought we could see a Prime Day announcement on June 23, 2020, but now it's more likely that we will not hear about it in an official capacity until the end of September or maybe the beginning of October.

As we get any official information from Amazon, we will be sure to keep this updated.

Is Amazon Prime Day 2020 being delayed?

Due to unforeseen circumstances, it does appear as though Amazon Prime Day 2020 will indeed be delayed. Amazon started the annual Prime Day event back in 2015, and since then it has always taken place in mid-July. With the COVID-19 outbreak, Amazon has faced issues with fulfillment, product availability, and workplace health concerns.

Delaying Prime Day until September gives the company a better chance at being able to keep up with orders, keep its workers safe, and give an overall better experience to everyone involved.

What are the best Prime Day 2020 deals?

As of right now, we aren't exactly sure what products Amazon will be discounting on Prime Day this year. We can pretty much guarantee that all of Amazon's devices, including the Echo, Echo Dot, Ring Video Doorbell, Blink cameras, Kindles, and more will all be on sale.

Based on the past few years, you can also anticipate items like DNA testing kits, Instant Pots, unlocked phones, and more to all be available at all-time low prices. We've already taken a look at five Prime Day deals we look forward to seeing.

There are already some nice early Prime Day deals taking place, and we've taken some time to round up all of the best Prime Day deals you can take advantage of today.

What deals do we expect during Prime Day 2020

There's no easy way to tell what will be discounted on Amazon until we receive the official word from Amazon, but after all these years of covering the event, we have a few ideas. It's nearly a guarantee that all of Amazon's own hardware, like the Fire TV sticks, Echo line, Kindles, Ring gear, and more will be on sale. Prime Day tends to bring many of these devices to historic low prices. The best Prime Day deals are generally focused directly around these items.

Beyond the usual suspects, we'd imagine that popular electronics like the TCL Roku TVs and Sonos speakers will be on sale, along with kitchen gadgets from Instant Pot, Keurig, and more.

Should you shop Prime Day 2020 deals or wait for Black Friday 2020?

This year it seems as though Prime Day will be taking place about 12 weeks later than normal, which puts it only about six weeks away from Black Friday. We all know that Black Friday has gone from a one-day event into a month-long marathon of sales, so realistically Prime Day is only about two weeks before the kick off of November, which is pretty close with all things considered.

Odds are Amazon realizes that in order to capture the audience looking to spend money that's potentially worried about this that it will need to bring some irresistible offers to the table. We've always been in support of shopping early instead of waiting, especially since Black Friday's shopping season is a week shorter than normal (like it was in 2019), so product availability could be scarce during the holidays.

We'd imagine that Amazon will be bringing some competitive and enticing prices on hot devices, so you'll likely want to be prepared to do a bunch of your holiday shopping during Prime Day 2020, even though that may not be what you are used to doing.

What were the most popular Prime Day deals in 2019?

Each year, Amazon announces the top-selling Prime Day deals, and in 2019 most of its own hardware topped the list. It's not a huge surprise to see this, as Amazon tends to aggressively lower the prices for the big event. Aside from its hardware, SanDisk microSD cards, Instant Pots, and a few others made the list.

In the U.S. Amazon said the highlights included:

A record number of Prime members shopped during Prime Day in the U.S.

Prime members purchased more than 100,000 lunchboxes, 100,000 laptops, 200,000 TVs, one million headphones, 350,000 luxury beauty products, 400,000 pet products, 650,000 household cleaning supplies, and more than one million toys.

Prime members purchased more than 200,000 LifeStraw Personal Water Filters and 150,000 Crest 3D White Professional Effects Whitestrips Kits.

This year, Prime members in the U.S. received tens of millions in Prime Day savings when they shopped at Whole Foods Market. The best-selling Prime Day deals were organic strawberries, red cherries, and blueberries.

When will Amazon Prime Day 2020 deals begin?

Amazon tends to kick off a few deals alongside its official Prime Day announcement, and then the deals really start flowing when the event begins. As of now, we don't have any official information about the timeline of when this will take place, so be sure to stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

What type of Prime Day deals will there be?

Amazon will have a few different deal styles running on Prime Day. There are a few different types of deals you can expect to see during the event, including Gold Box deals, Lightning deals, Coupon deals, and direct price drops. Each of these is a little different, so here's what you can expect from each type:

Gold Box Deals of the Day : These are Amazon's daily deals, and generally for these, the company has plenty of stock to fulfill orders on it all day long. We have seen Gold Box deals sell out in the past, but it's far less often that these sell out than the other types of deals.

: These are Amazon's daily deals, and generally for these, the company has plenty of stock to fulfill orders on it all day long. We have seen Gold Box deals sell out in the past, but it's far less often that these sell out than the other types of deals. Lightning Deals : Like an actual bolt of lightning, these deals will come and go fast. On an average day, Lightning deals tend to last for around six hours, but on Prime Day it's likely that the most popular deals will go in the blink of an eye. You can generally join a waitlist if it sells out, but that won't guarantee that you will actually get the product.

: Like an actual bolt of lightning, these deals will come and go fast. On an average day, Lightning deals tend to last for around six hours, but on Prime Day it's likely that the most popular deals will go in the blink of an eye. You can generally join a waitlist if it sells out, but that won't guarantee that you will actually get the product. Coupon Deals : Many sellers will be offering coupon codes as a way to help people save on Prime Day, and these require a little more work. Some will offer landing pages that automatically clip the coupon code for you, and others will require you to manually enter them during the checkout process. The few seconds of extra work can sometimes save you big, though.

: Many sellers will be offering coupon codes as a way to help people save on Prime Day, and these require a little more work. Some will offer landing pages that automatically clip the coupon code for you, and others will require you to manually enter them during the checkout process. The few seconds of extra work can sometimes save you big, though. Direct Price Drops: For a vast majority of deals on Prime Day, you'll visit the page and the price will just be reduced.

These price drops span all of the categories that Amazon covers. Whether you're in the market for kitchen appliances or knives, or happen to need a new TV, computer, clothing, or even a new mattress, odds are it will be on sale during Prime Day.

Will USPS shipping delays affect Prime Day?

It's a little too early to tell at this point, but it does indeed seem likely that Prime Day could suffer some delivery delays because of the USPS back log. As of right now, USPS performs about 30% of Amazon's deliveries, which is quite a large number. Recent changes at the Post Office have led to delayed packages, mail sitting in locations for long durations, and more.

Hopefully things turn around, or Amazon is able to offset the delays with more in-house shipping this year.

What is Amazon Prime Day?

Underneath all the advertising and marketing jargon you'll read about Amazon Prime Day is a rather large shopping event that kicks off on in the middle of July each year. It used to be a one-day event, but Amazon has since expanded that. In 2018 the company ran it for 36 hours, and in 2019 it expanded to 48 hours. Amazon claims that Prime Day is bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and basing it off of what we saw last year, it is entirely possible that the company can pull that off this year.

The shopping event is exclusive to members of Amazon's Prime service, which offers free 2-day shipping on millions of items, access to Prime Video, photo storage, and much more. An Amazon Prime membership now costs $119 a year, but you can get a free 30-day trial to get all the benefits without shelling out any cash. Yes, that means that you'll be able to shop all the Prime Day deals, get the free 2-day shipping, and all without paying anything for it. Keep in mind that after the 30 days Amazon will charge you for the year in full, so you'll want to set a reminder to cancel if you don't want to keep it.

Prime Day Concert, explained

This is a bit of an odd one, but two years ago Amazon started a new tradition with a Prime Day concert. The first one was headlined by Ariana Grande, and last year Taylor Swift hit the stage to perform. The 2020 Prime Day Concert has yet to be made official, but we can expect that Amazon will indeed offer one with a large headline act.

We will keep you posted as Amazon announces more information on the Prime Day concert for this year's event.

Will other retailers try to participate in Amazon Prime Day?

With certainty we can say yes. Other retailers like Walmart, Target, Best Buy, eBay, Newegg, and plenty of others will be joining in on the fun. Some will launch sales aimed directly at competing with Prime Day offerings, and others will simply match the deals and discounts from Amazon.

We've seen eBay go all-in on its own promotions in years past, and with the state of everything right now we wouldn't be surprised to see more competition do the same.

What is the history of Amazon Prime Day?

To help celebrate its 20th anniversary, Amazon kicked off Prime Day back in 2015. Since then, the company has grown the event, making it a little bigger each year. 2020 will mark the sixth anniversary of Prime Day as we know it. The event started as a one-day thing that had a random mix of things on sale, and has evolved into what was a 48 hour event last year that offered well over 1 million deals.

Beyond just discounting its own hardware, Amazon features discounts on popular products from Bose, Instant Pot, TCL, KitchenAid, and many other big brands. The growth hasn't been flawless for Amazon, though. Last year, the company experienced nearly two hours of downtime at the beginning of the event due to the extra traffic. The site had immense troubles loading listings, showing updated pricing, and getting through the checkout process. Once this was resolved, the rest of it went pretty smoothly.

How does Amazon Prime Day work?

Prime Day is not as straightforward as some other big shopping days, and that's not such a bad thing. There are some things that you'll want to keep in mind, especially if you are looking for deals on specific products. Last year, Amazon released deals in batches every three hours. This year, some of the promotions are based around six-hour blocks, so it's possible the company has extended the times each deal will be available to accommodate for the longer event.

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Who is Prime Day for?

Only people who are Amazon Prime members will be able to participate in Prime Day. You don't have to be a long-standing member. Even if you just use the 30-day Prime Day free trial for the event you can shop the sales.

You should also be able to participate if you're part of Amazon Household, Family, or using the student-discounted Prime membership.