Amazon's 2nd Annual Prime Day To Boost Summer Sales

Brace yourselves, folks! Amazon Prime Day 2016 is just around the corner.

Recently, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced that the second annual Prime Day will be held on Jul 12, wherein sellers and entrepreneurs from around the world will offer thousands of deals on items ranging from electronics, toys, household goods and apparels.

Number Crunching

The number of sellers and small businesses participating in Prime Day 2016 globally has grown more than 100% over last year. This time, Amazon sellers will offer more than 30% of the Prime Day Lightning Deals worldwide. Last but not least, it is expected that customers in the U.S. will find twice as many deals on the scheduled date.

We note that during the last Prime Day, more than 14 million items exchanged hands.

Prime Objective

Amazon started the Prime Day tradition just last year with the goal of creating a reason to shop in an otherwise soft selling season. So of course, they sweeten things for customers with significant discounts and offers along with fast and free shipping. Third-party sellers, on the other hand, get to move more items and pick up a host of customer reviews on their top selling items, which can be useful during the holiday season.

What’s on Offer This Season?

TVs: TV deals are going to double up and there will be as many TVs on offer as Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined together in the U.S.

Toys: This segment was a big hit last year, and is anticipated to do equally well this season too.

Segway miniPRO: Prime members can avail a flat 20% discount on the smart self-balancing personal transporter.

LSTN: There will be up to 50% discount on LSTN speakers and headphones.

Competition

While a few pre-Prime Day deals were on offer on Jul 6, the real blitzkrieg is anticipated to commence at midnight on Jul 12. Apart from Amazon, some other retail heavyweights such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) and Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) are also expected to follow suit in the coming weeks.

At present, Amazon has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Another Stock to Consider

Investors interested in the same space may also consider PetMed Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:PETS) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1.