Amazon Prime Day: What to expect from the Early Access Sale

Amazon (AMZN) will be hosting its second Prime Day event this year starting on Tuesday as part of its Amazon Prime Early Access Sale.

July's Amazon Prime Day was the company's most successful ever, but this time the e-commerce giant is competing against other major retailers and the backdrop of inflation. Walmart's (WMT) Rollbacks and More Sale started today, while Target's (TGT) Deal Days event ran last week.

Simultaneously, inflation has squeezed consumers and led to a much-talked-about slowdown in consumer spending. However, there's still some optimism for Amazon as it tries to recreate its summer success.

Millennials — a demographic that reportedly loves Amazon Prime and are fairly likely to have a membership — are expected to be spending more than any other age group this year, according to PwC's recently-released Holiday Outlook.

"Millennials will be the biggest holiday spenders this year, so retailers can expect them to spend big and early," PwC U.S. Retail Leader Kelly Pedersen told Yahoo Finance. "Their planned spending has increased by over 10% while all other generations are planning to spend the same or less.”

Over the last 10 years, consumers have been spreading out their holiday spending through November, Pedersen added. Still, these early sales for Amazon and their competitors are important in setting a tone.

"Retailers rely on early sales to set a strong foundation for their season," Pedersen said. "We are expecting early and deep discounting this holiday season, and many retailers have excess inventory they will be trying to clear out before getting into the next calendar year.”

Some of those deep deals have already been revealed. The viral 'Amazon Coat,' made by Chinese company Orolay, is reportedly set to be discounted at 30%.

However, many of the most notable discounts will be on Amazon's connected devices, from the company's smart home device Echo to the smart doorbell Ring. The 2021 Kindle Paperwhite is available for 29% off, while Fire TV Stick Bundles are available for almost 50% off in some cases.

According to D.A. Davidson Managing Director John Jameson, Amazon's connected devices is where the "point of emphasis" will be during the Prime Early Access event, especially since it gives the company opportunity to shed any excess inventory from its 2022 Devices & Services Event.

These devices are fundamentally and deeply key to Amazon's overall strategy from a couple different angles, Jameson added. Above all, it goes back to one area of focus that Amazon sees as essential to its future and emphasis on "customer obsession" — data.

"The devices themselves are category leaders, such as Ring and Alexa, and therefore have strong sell-through into the marketplace," Jameson said, "but more importantly, they provide a whole-home, voice-activated ecosystem of data for Amazon to better understand consumer behavior and preferences."

Allie Garfinkle is a Senior Tech Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @agarfinks.

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