This year, Amazon is hosting Prime Day – two days of serious sales – a month earlier than usual. This year’s event will be June 21 and 22. Amazon normally hosts Prime Day in July but, last year, because of the pandemic, Amazon used Prime Day 2020 to kick off the holiday season in October instead. With a focus on small business this year, Prime Day 2021 will offer savings on more than 2 million deals on items like fashion, toys, home décor, electronics, automotive, and more.  

Third-party sellers who are small businesses will offer more than a million of those deals on Prime Day. For the two weeks leading up to Prime Day, Amazon will give a $10 credit to Prime members who spend $10 on select U.S. small business products and brands between June 7 and June 20. Shoppers can then use that $10 credit during Prime Day.

“At the heart of Prime Day is our incredible selling partner community of almost 2 million small and medium-sized businesses around the world. They enable Amazon to deliver a great experience for customers on Prime Day and throughout the year. These third-party sellers represent almost 60% of sales on Amazon, and they are a continual source of inspiration for us,” Amazon said in their June 3, 2021 announcement.

“That’s why, in 2020, we invested over $18 billion in our logistics network, tools, services, programs, and teams to help sellers thrive in Amazon’s store. This Prime Day, we want to celebrate our partnership with small businesses and empower them to reach more customers and grow even more with Amazon,” Amazon added.

How Amazon supports small businesses

This Prime Day, Amazon will support small businesses in the following ways:

• The creation of curated storefront, sorted by category and region. Amazon is also categorizing businesses as Black-owned, woman-owned and military family-owned businesses.
• $10 credit to be used on Prime Day when spending $10 on eligible items between June 7 and June 20: 300,000 third-party sellers are eligible for this promotion, double the number last year.
• Offering 10% cash back when Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Card and Amazon Prime Store Card cardholders make small business purchases.
• Echo device owners in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany can shop small businesses with Alexa.
• Shop on Amazon Live on Monday, June 7 with celebrities Kristen Bell, Karamo Brown and Mindy Kaling.

Actor, philanthropist and small business owner Kristen Bell shares her thoughts about Prime Day:

Eligible countries

Prime members in the following countries are eligible to participate: United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.

Deals starting early

A number of deals have already started, including sales on JBL headphones, Fire TVs, toys, home and kitchen items, home improvement items, everyday essentials, books and more. From its subscription service line-up, Prime members can try Amazon Music Unlimited with four months of free access to more than 70 million songs ad-free. Prime Gaming is also offering special deals on Battlefield 4 for a limited time. Prime members who want to try Audible out can save 50% for four months of Audible Premium Plus. During the promotion, the audio service will be just $6.95 a month. Prime members can try Wondery+ for four months for free too, getting an ad-free podcast experience.

Three musical artists to kick off Prime Day on June 17

To draw attention to Prime Day, Amazon has secured three top artists – Billie Eilish, H.E.R. and Kid Cudi – for a Prime Day Show. The three-part show will premiere on June 17 on Prime Video and will be available to all Amazon customers for 30 days, whether or not they are Prime members.

“These iconic artists have not only broken new ground in music but are inspired storytellers, culture creators, and visionaries,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios. “We’re thrilled to partner with Billie, H.E.R., and Cudi to bring these authentic and deeply personal specials to fans around the world as we celebrate Prime Day.”

Insider Take

Last year, Amazon Prime Day brought in $3.5 billion in sales, and Prime members saved more than $1.4 billion on deals. This was Amazon’s most successful Prime Day yet, and each year gets bigger and better. We can expect Prime Day 2021 to top last year’s record sales. We are excited to see that Amazon is extending its free trials and trial offers for its subscription services beyond the usual 30-day free trials so many companies offer. This is a great way to entice members to try Amazon’s other offerings. While retention following a four-month trial may not be high, we anticipate some of the services will see new subscribers. These deals also create a “stickiness” to Prime membership that make it a “must have” for any household who shops online. The more services and deals a member takes advantage of, the harder it is for them to leave.