Dive Brief:
- Amazon’s Black Friday Week is early again this year and, combined with Cyber Monday, will stretch over 12 days from Nov. 20 through Dec. 1, according to a press release.
- Amazon is promoting “millions” of holiday deals of up to 55% off on home, electronics, kitchen, beauty and apparel, from brands such as Bissell, Beats, Nike, Theory, AllSaints, New Balance, Kiehl’s, PlayStation, Dyson, Lancôme and Bose.
- New to the deals event this year include new-to-Amazon brands and exclusive products from Charlotte Tilbury and Fisher-Price; daily drops offering deep discounts with “Today’s Big Deals”; and a new feature, Shop The Game, that allows viewers to simultaneously watch sporting events on Black Friday and shop.
Dive Insight:
Amazon is once again kicking off its Black Friday deals early — this year, a full week before Thanksgiving.
The company’s main competitors are also running events early in the season to jump-start the holidays. Walmart this year is holding the first of two Black Friday events this Friday to Sunday, with a second online-only event coming Nov. 25 to Nov. 27 and in stores and online Nov. 28 to Nov. 30.
Best Buy kicked off its holiday season in October with weekly doorbuster deals on a variety of tech products and will mirror Amazon with a nine-day version of Black Friday also beginning on Nov. 20. Target has also kicked off early holiday marketing with a gift-giving campaign around the return of its “Hot Santa”.
As another way to gain market share, Amazon held its fifth annual holiday beauty event last month, which featured a myriad of leading brands priced up to 40% off, including BareMinerals, Laura Mercier, Clinique, Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Olay, Dove and La Roche-Posay.
