BackAmazon’s Prime Day sale disappoints buyers
Unfortunately, many of these deals were already sold out, and consumers were given the option to join a waitlist
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New Delhi: Amazon’s much-hyped Prime Day sale tanked, at least for consumers. While some shoppers were unhappy with the kind of deals offered, others were frustrated with the speed at which the offers disappeared.
The best prime day deals included Amazon’s Fire TV stick reduced from $39 to $25; Kindles from $79 to $49; the Fire HD7 tablet from $139 to $79; and Amazon’s connected speaker Echo from $179 to $129. Unfortunately, by early Wednesday morning, many of these deals were already sold out, and consumers were given the option to join a waitlist.
Of course, there were some run-of-the mill offers like “20% off Finnish dishwasher detergent," or $5 off razor blades when you “subscribe & save". And some really bizarre deals that included a chef’s hat, lip enhancers, dog muzzles and a beard growther (Grow Your Beard Fast) too.
No wonder then consumers likened the Prime Day discounts to a “garage sale" or called it “lame". Several said the only useful thing they bought was Tupperware.
On Twitter, users vented their anger with hashtags that included: #unhappyPrimeDay, #AmazonFail, #gobacktosleep, and #PrimeDayFail.
Some of the tweets included:
First reaction to #PrimeDay? If I wanted to be on a waitlist, I’d apply to college again. Walmart site seems easier to navigate than Amazon.
So far #PrimeDay looks more like a cheap garage sale rather than a Black Friday competition.
So what was Amazon’s real motivation behind Prime day? Analysts agree that it was to entice more people to join its Amazon Prime membership programme. According to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, even though the company boasted 10 million new Amazon Prime members during last year’s holiday season, only about 70% of customers purchase a $99 full-year membership after the 30-day free trial. Sales like these are meant to lure more shoppers to their Prime Day membership. Prime members are offered perks such as free delivery, downloadable movies and media, and bulk delivery service to reinforce the advantage of the membership and attract more loyal customers.
Despite all the ranting, Amazon appeared happy with the sale. “Prime Day peak order rates have already surpassed 2014 Black Friday," said Greg Greeley, vice-president of Amazon Prime. “Prime members bought tens of thousands of Fire TV Sticks, 35,000 Lord of the Rings Blu-Ray sets, 28,000 Rubbermaid sets, and 4,000 Echo devices in 15 minutes. The Kate Spade purse was gone in less than a minute. We also sold 1,200 of the $999 TVs in less than 10 minutes. And there are thousands more deals coming," he said in a press release.
To get a clearer picture, we may have to just wait until Amazon’s quarterly earnings that are slated for 23 July to see the kind of impact Prime Day had on the company’s bottomline.
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