Prime Day, Amazon's annual e-commerce extravaganza, will be postponed at least until August, according to[1] Reuters. Additionally, Reuters reports, Amazon expects to lost $100 million from excess devices it will likely have to sell at a discount. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
Amazon launched Prime Day in 2015 to drive sales during the relatively slow summer months. Last year, Amazon held Prime Day for 48 hours in mid-July, with sales[2] surpassing Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.
The midsummer sales event has become a key way[3] for Amazon to recruit new members to its Prime subscription program. It also gives Amazon a way to promote sales of its Echo devices -- bringing more customers into the Alexa-enabled smart home ecosystem.
Meanwhile, Amazon Prime has become a large enough event that it's influenced the retail industry. Last year, other retailers launched their own sales promotions[4] to compete with Prime Day, with the largest retailers walking away with significant sales bumps[5].