Amazon is attempting to create a new shopping day for its Prime members that will rival Black Friday.
The Seattle-based online retailing giant says Prime Day, to be held July 15, will offer more deals than Black Friday, the massive shopping day held the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S. Black Friday specials are becoming increasingly popular in Canada.
Prime Day, which takes place on the eve of Amazon’s 20th birthday, is exclusive to Prime members in Canada, U.S., U.K., Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany, France and Austria. Prime membership in Canada costs $79 per year plus taxes.
“Prime Day was conceived as a fun day to shop,” says Amazon.ca spokesperson Katie McFadzean.
The event is being promoted on Facebook, Twitter (#PrimeLiving) and other social media as well as on the Amazon.ca/primeliving microsite. In addition, “we have an ad campaign, site marketing and are planning flyover banners in the coming days,” McFadzean says.
The PrimeLiving site touts the benefits of Prime membership, including free two-day shipping and discounted one-day shipping and same-day delivery in Toronto and Vancouver for $6.99 per-order. Prime members also receive unlimited photo storage in the cloud.
A photo contest is also being held to promote the shopping day with participants asked to submit images that capture happy moments of Prime Living. Photos will be selected and featured daily on Amazon’s social channels leading up to Prime Day.
One Canadian grand prize winner of the #PrimeLiving Photo Contest will receive the equivalent of $10,000 U.S. in Amazon.ca gift cards.
As well, to launch the photo contest and celebrate Prime Day, local artists were commissioned in every Prime-eligible country to interpret what Prime Living means to them. In Toronto, artist Emmanuel Jarus was commissioned to create an art piece.
McFadzean would not confirm if Prime Day would be an annual event.
National Public Relations is leading media relations in Canada for Prime Day and Weber Shandwick helped coordinate the artwork.
