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Amazon announces second Prime Day sales event in October

By Jonna Lorenz
Warehouse workers are seen at an Amazon facility in Hawthorne, Calif., on December 15, 2020. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
Warehouse workers are seen at an Amazon facility in Hawthorne, Calif., on December 15, 2020. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Amazon announced Monday it will host a Prime Early Access Sale on Oct. 11-12, marking the first time the online retailer has held a sale similar to its annual Prime Day twice in one year.

The sales event will give Amazon Prime subscribers access to "hundreds of thousands" of holiday deals, Jamil Ghani, vice president of Prime, told CNBC.

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This year's Prime Day was July 12-13.

Prime Early Access Sale will be available in 15 countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada, China and France.

Soaring inflation and fears of a recession are setting retailers up for an uncertain holiday season.

Retailers have been starting the holiday shopping season increasingly early. Amazon's announcement follows such retailers as Target and Walmart, which previously announced plans to launch holiday sales in October.

According to a recent Bankrate survey, 11% of shoppers began their holiday purchases before the end of August and about half are expected to get underway by the end of October.

Inflation was the most common factor driving the change in consumer behavior, cited by 40% of Bankrate survey respondents. An oversupply of inventory as supply-chain problems resolved and a drop in demand also are driving early holiday sales.

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"Consumers are going to start holiday shopping earlier this year as they look to spread the costs at a time when household incomes are being squeezed," retail analyst Neil Saunders told CNN Business.

Deloitte forecast that holiday sales are likely to increase between 4% and 6% in 2022, compared with a 15.1% increase last year.

"The lower projected growth for the 2022 holiday season reflects the slowdown in the economy this year," Daniel Bachman, Deloitte's U.S. economic forecaster, said in a news release.

E-commerce sales are expected to see stronger results, with sales projected to rise 12.8% to 14.3% as consumers look for online deals to maximize their spending.

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