Amazon is planning a summertime sale separate from Prime Day

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Amazon is planning a "Summer Sale" that would enable merchants to sell extra inventory they may have accumulated during the coronavirus pandemic, The New York Times reports.

The details of the event are unclear, but it would likely come before Prime Day, which Amazon has reportedly postponed from its usual July occurrence to September. Amazon is likely putting off Prime Day to give itself more time to ramp up its fulfillment capabilities during the pandemic so that it can handle the spike in demand the sales holiday brings.

The e-tailer may be running its Summer Sale to reestablish itself as a speedy e-commerce option in the eyes of consumers:

• Amazon moved away from its one- and two-day delivery offerings during the pandemic, which may have pushed customers to competitors that offered faster fulfillment speeds. Early on in the pandemic, Amazon moved to deliver essential products in one to four days and potentially offered a longer timeline for nonessentials, CFO Brian Olsavsky said on an earnings call. While this may have been necessary to safely meet demand, it did cause consumers to wait longer for products they ordered. In response, some consumers could have turned to retailers like Target and Walmart that offered potentially faster fulfillment through curbside pickup and shipping from nearby stores, possibly costing Amazon sales and customer loyalty.
• The Summer Sale would allow Amazon to attract sales from consumers and showcase that it can again provide fast delivery speeds. Consumers may be interested in a sales event from Amazon even if it lacks Prime Day's branding, especially since it could take place around the time Prime Day usually does and price is the most important factor for US Amazon shoppers when they select a product. This would lead consumers to make more purchases from Amazon, and if the e-tailer is able to fulfill its orders at its standard one- and two-day speeds — which it's on its way toward accomplishing, per the Times — it should help address any concerns about its shipping speeds going forward and win back any customers who may have defected to other retailers.

The Summer Sale should also help Amazon avoid giving its competitors the opportunity to capitalize on the absence of Prime Day. In past years, many other retailers have run their own sales on and around Prime Day in the hopes of taking advantage of the increased interest in shopping it creates and stealing sales from Amazon.

If Prime Day is delayed to September, and Amazon doesn't run another sale this summer, other merchants will surely run their own events to attract sales from consumers who were hoping to shop on Prime Day. The Summer Sale should enable Amazon to compete for sales during the summer while preserving Prime Day for a time when it can operate at full capacity.

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