Amazon is killing Black Friday (AMZN)

pulse

July 11, 2017 4:25 PM

Amazon's Prime Day deals are generally better than Black Friday deals, according to one analysis.

Amazon is changing Americans' holiday-shopping calendar by celebrating Black Friday-style sales in July.

The e-commerce giant is holding its third annual Prime Day on Tuesday, and it's expected to be bigger than ever before.

Amazon started the sale several hours earlier this year than it has in the past two years, and more than a dozen other major retailers are now taking part by offering their own massive sales events to counter Amazon.

Toys R Us, for example, is having its biggest sitewide sale of the year now through Wednesday, and Macy's is offering 60% off its entire website on Monday and Tuesday.

JCPenney, meanwhile, is holding a " target="_blank"Penney Palooza" sale, offering 25% its entire website and additional discounts on certain items.

Home Depot, Lowe's, and Best Buy are also offering 40%-off deals on appliances until Wednesday.

In addition to running their own promotions, many retailers are promising to price-match Amazon's Prime Day deals. These retailers include Jet.com, Best Buy, Toys R Us, Babies R Us, Target, Sears, Home Depot, and Bed Bath and Beyond.

Prime Day, in its third year, is still a long way from catching up to Black Friday in terms of total sales. Prime Day has been estimated to generate about half a billion dollars for Amazon, while on Black Friday last year, e-commerce sales totaled $3.34 billion, according to Adobe.

But the deals are better than what shoppers might find on Black Friday, according to BestBlackFriday.com. The website analyzed Amazon's deals on Black Friday and Prime Day and found that in 2016, 77% of Prime Day prices were better than comparable deals offered on Black Friday.

As Prime Day has increased in popularity, shoppers' interest in Black Friday has waned.

Last year, about 154 million customers shopped in-store and online over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, down from 226 million in 2011, according to the National Retail Federation.

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