Walmart (WMT 0.33%) and Target (TGT 0.66%) announced they are holding major sales events that will overlap Amazon's two-day Prime Day extravaganza on Tuesday, Oct. 13 and Wednesday, Oct. 14.
It indicates retailers are not willing to allow Amazon to have the field to itself this close to Christmas and they'll need to fight for every dollar.
Image source: Getty Images.
Scrambling for dollars
Prime Day typically takes place during the middle of July, but was delayed this year by the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Retail Federation says consumers may begin their holiday shopping in October this year, meaning any retailer waiting for the traditional start of the season after Thanksgiving Day may find itself left out.
Walmart announced its Big Save event will begin on Oct. 11 and run for five days through Oct. 15, with some special deals appearing on its website on Oct. 5. It could possibly steal some of Prime Day's thunder and sales by starting earlier and going longer.
Target says it will host its Deal Days sales promotion on Oct. 13 and 14, the same two days as Prime Day, and promises to offer significant savings on hundreds of thousands of products on its site.
Other retailers are also planning to cash in on the heightened consumer interest in finding deals that Prime Day typically spurs. Overstock.com, for example, will be launching its annual Customer Day event on Oct. 4 and running it for 36 hours. The discount retailer said it will offer up to 70% off on thousands of products.
It makes sense for retailers to try to get out in front of Amazon this year because they lost tens of millions of dollars in sales due to the coronavirus and need to make up as much as it can between now and Christmas Day.
