Don't let anyone tell you that mid-October is boring. Amazon (AMZN -1.65%), Walmart (WMT 0.57%), Target (TGT -0.54%), Best Buy (BBY 1.09%), and Apple (AAPL 0.52%) all have big events lined up for next week.
The five consumer-facing giants have some big events gunning for your pocketbook. There's a good chance that one -- and likely more than one of them -- will show up on your credit card statement next week. Let's dive into what is going on, and how these five retail and tech bellwethers that are already holding up nicely in this market will keep the registers ringing through the next few days.
Image source: Getty Images.
Amazon
The country's leading online retailer established Prime Day on July 15, 2015, as a way to celebrate the digital storefront turning 20 years old that summer. The one-day sales event was popular, proving that if you're big enough you don't have to wait for a shopping holiday to come to you when you can just create one. China's Alibaba was doing that years before Amazon with its annual Nov. 11 Singles Day.
Prime Day eventually evolved into a two-day shopping holiday. Why not? Amazon created it, so it can mess with the rules. With the COVID-19 crisis generating logistics issues earlier in the pandemic, Amazon decided not to have Prime Day in July as it had every summer since its inception. The date this year is Oct. 13 and Oct. 14, this coming Tuesday and Wednesday.
Walmart
If Amazon's having a sale, you know that Walmart is going to want to crash the party. With last month's launch of Walmart+ -- a premium loyalty shopping platform similar to Amazon Prime -- it's not a surprise to see Walmart wanting a piece of the action. The world's largest physical retailer has created what it calls the Big Save event from Oct. 11 to Oct. 15.
One can argue that it's different in that it's a five-day event. Given Walmart's brick-and-mortar empire the event will also take place online and in-store. It's going to be a busy week for the two behemoths of retail, and they're not alone.
Target
To be fair, the cheap-chic mass market retailer had set aside the Target Deal Days event before Walmart announced its Big Save blowout. However, Target didn't bother to pull any punches when it set its shopping holiday on the same two days that Amazon's Prime Day will be taking place.
Target's Deal Days will take place on Oct. 13 and Oct. 14. If you think that three major chains is enough to keep draining your wallet I hear the country's largest consumer electronics superstore retailer is at the door. I hope it brings some chips and a bag of ice.
Best Buy
A late arrival to the mid-October sales party, Best Buy was the last to announce an event. It was on Thursday that it announced the kickoff of its Black Friday season with a two-day event on Oct. 13 and Oct. 14.
Calling it a Black Friday event is interesting, because that has to be the biggest concern when it comes to this shopping free-for-all situation. Will Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales diminish in popularity with a lot of sales being pulled into October? Does it worry anyone else that mid-October is too late for back-to-school essentials but too early for holiday shopping considerations? Either way, all you need to know about Best Buy is that it's going to be a hot ticket as it's selling a 70-inch smart TV for just $529.99
Apple
What is Apple thinking in hosting a media event on Oct. 13? Isn't everyone going to be too busy shopping at Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy to be entertaining details about what will surely be Apple's new iPhone?
Apple's iPhone 12 could be a game changer. It's the world's most valuable company -- by market cap -- making a long overdue official entry into the 5G market. Will faster phones and new features help pick up sales for a company that has posted double-digit revenue growth just once over the past five fiscal years? It may seem crazy to introduce the iPhone 12 in a week with so many big sales going on, but if Apple wants to stop people from gobbling up cheaper smartphones that will be made available in the coming days this may also be the best time to get loud.
