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Aussies Hunt For Record Amazon Prime Deals

Chris Griffith | 16 Jul 2024

The hunt for great deals is on again with Amazon Prime Day kicking off in Australia on July 16 for a record six days until July 21. Some goods are as much as 70 percent off.

Amazon’s two big online sales seasons, the Black Friday sale in November and Prime Day in July, have been runaway successes and are starting to supplant the traditional Australian bricks-and-mortar Christmas and Boxing Day sale as the main avenue for bargain buys.

Globally the impact of Black Friday was enormous last year, with sales revenue of $US575bn, with $131bn coming from outside the US, according to Statista. In Australia, the Black Friday weekend in November 2023 saw a 24 per cent rise in transactions, according to Lightspeed research.

The impact wasn’t just online. There was a large increase in transactions at Australian restaurants. The data suggests we are embracing the omnichannel concept of researching bargains both online and at physical stores.

The contrast with traditional Christmas sales is stark. Last year Australian shoppers were estimated to spend as little as $1.25billion during the Boxing Day sales with around a 1 per cent year-on-year increase.

The Australian Retailers Assocation described these sales during the Christmas period as “subdued”, mainly due to cost-of-living pressures.

Amazon Prime has been operating since 2015 and initially was only for 24 hours in 9 countries. It’s now spread to 20 countries. It’s a fillip for retailers as it takes place at a time that traditionally had been “off season” after the clamour around end-of-financial-year sales had subsided.

While it’s going from strength-to-strength now, Amazon Prime was hit by the pandemic and issues around supply chains.

Other retailers are beginning to eat away at Amazon’s retail advantage, according to The New York Post. These retailers have decided to hold sales during the same dates as Amazon Prime. They are getting smarter at stealing Amazon’s thunder by holding their sales a week before the event.

“Amazon will drive the vast majority of online sales during Prime Day — a whopping 59 per cent — but this year will mark the third consecutive year that Amazon’s growth is slowing,” the Post reports. “That’s because the Seattle-based trailblazer has a multitude of copycats that are nipping at its heels and grabbing market share.”

The Post says Chinese discounter Temu is offering Temu Week in competition to Prime, which offers 90 per cent off some items.

Prime Membership

Prime Day operates a little differently to the Black Friday sales period. To take part you need to sign up as an Amazon Prime member which includes a 30-day free trial. It’s then $9.99 a month or $79 per year. It is a bit more expensive this year with Prime membership prices increasing 34 per cent.

You receive benefits such as free international delivery and free domestic delivery on eligible orders, access to Amazon Originals media, free games, a free subscription to Amazon Music Prime and access to thousands of e-books, comics and short works.

Prime Sales

You need to shop around for the best bargains, but it’s not hard to find some stunning savings. Here are examples.