Amazon schedules delayed Prime Day for Oct. 13-14

Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Amazon announced Monday when it will hold its annual Prime Day, after it was put off this summer by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The retailer said the special shopping event will be held Oct. 13 and Oct. 14. It postponed the event in July.

"In the midst of an unprecedented year, we're committed to making this the most successful Prime Day ever for our small businesses and excited for Prime members worldwide to discover new ways to support local entrepreneurs," Amazon's global consumer chief Jeff Wilke said in a statement.

"This year's Prime Day is the perfect opportunity for Prime members to get their holiday shopping done early from the comfort of their homes -- and to have more time to spend with their families and friends throughout the season."

Amazon said it will spend more than $100 million on promotional activities to aid small businesses and attract new customers.

Prime Day is available to shoppers in the United States, Britain, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Singapore, Netherlands, Mexico, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, China, Canada, Belgium, Austria and Australia.

For the first time, shoppers in Turkey and Brazil will participate, the company said.

"This has been a challenging year for many small businesses, and selling in Amazon's stores has enabled hundreds of thousands of smaller companies to sustain and even grow their sales despite the COVID-19 crisis and beyond," Amazon said.