What to know about Amazon’s second Prime Day this October

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Amazon just announced its second Prime Day-level event of the year: Prime Big Deal Days. The sales event, which is exclusive to Prime members, is currently scheduled for October 2023, though the retailer has yet to release specific dates.

SKIP AHEAD What is Prime Big Deal Days? | What will be on sale during Prime Big Deal Days? | When is Prime Big Deal Days? | Do I need a Prime membership to shop? | Does Amazon always host two Prime Days? | Prime Day 2023 results | Prime Day 2023 bestsellers

To help you prepare and learn about what to expect, we answered some frequently asked questions about Prime Big Deal Days below. We’ll continue updating this story as Amazon releases new information over the next few weeks.

What is the Prime Big Deal Days sale?

Prime Big Deal Days is a Prime Day-level mega sale — there will be discounts on items across various categories — that Prime members have exclusive access to. It’s available to shoppers in 19 countries this October: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, the U.S. and the U.K.

What will be on sale during Prime Big Deal Days?

While sellers tend to slash prices on products across categories during Amazon sales events, we expect to see an emphasis on giftable products, like handheld tech, gaming bundles, beauty sets and kitchen appliances during the event. In recent years other retailers have promoted early Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals in October. This gives shoppers extra time to buy gifts and spread their spending out across a few months.

Amazon also offers Lightning Deals during its sales events, which are great opportunities to save. These limited-time offers give shoppers a short window to purchase and check out. While you can’t really prepare for Lightning Deals, be sure to browse through them during the event and checkout quickly if something catches your eye — once Lightning Deals are live, items tend to go out-of-stock quickly.

When is Prime Big Deal Days?

The Prime Big Deal Days event is scheduled for October 2023, but we don’t know the exact dates yet — we’ll keep you updated as the retailer releases more information. Amazon has also not yet announced how long the event will be or what time deals start and end.

Do I need a Prime membership to shop Prime Big Deal Days?

Yes, you need a Prime membership to shop the sale. If you’re interested in joining Amazon Prime prior to the event, you can register online for a standard membership or for discounted options available for students and those receiving certain types of government assistance. New members get a 30-day free trial.

Does Amazon host two Prime Days every year?

Last year was the first time Amazon hosted two Prime Day-level events in one year — there was Prime Day in July 2022 and the Prime Early Access Sale in October 2022. The retailer is following the same schedule in 2023 with Prime Day falling on July 11 and July 12, and the Prime Big Deal Days sale set for October. Amazon has not commented on whether it will permanently host two Prime Day-level events every year going forward.

How successful was Prime Day 2023?

Amazon does not disclose Prime Day sales, but Digital Commerce 360 estimates that the retailer hit $12.90 billion in global sales during July’s Prime Day event. This marks a 6.7% increase in sales compared to Prime Day 2022, which saw $12.09 billion in sales. The moderate increase from 2022 to 2023 is consistent with Amazon’s recent growth trends — Digital Commerce 360 estimates that the last time Amazon saw double-digit growth in Prime Day sales year-over-year was between 2019 and 2020, when Prime Day sales increased 45.1%. Slower sales growth may be due to shoppers cutting back on spending in response to inflation, according to Digital Commerce 360.

What were the bestsellers during Prime Day 2023?

Amazon sold more than 375 million items worldwide during Prime Day 2023 this summer, and the first day of the 48-hour event was the largest sales day in Amazon history, according to the retailer. Bestselling products included the Amazon Fire TV Stick, Laneige lip balm, Apple AirPods and the Bissell Little Green Portable Deep Cleaner. Alexa-enabled devices were also popular products, according to Amazon.

We put together a list of Select readers’ favorite products during this year’s sale, including Crest’s 3D Whitestrips, a Fullstar vegetable chopper and the Amazon smart plug.

Why trust Select?

Zoe Malin is an associate updates editor at NBC Select who’s been covering Amazon since 2020. She wrote Select’s history of Amazon Prime Day, as well as a variety of Amazon Prime Day sales articles. For this piece, Malin researched Amazon Prime Day and referenced Select’s other Amazon coverage.

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