Amazon is gearing up for the third installment of its summer shopping event Prime Day, giving a sneak preview of some of the deals we will see starting at 6 p.m. tonight and running through Tuesday.
The shopping holiday, which is exclusive to Amazon Prime members, will feature heavy discounts on Amazon’s lineup of Alexa-powered devices. Amazon has cut the price of the Echo speaker in half to $89.99 for Prime Day, and it has reduced the price of the Echo Dot by $15 to $34.99.
Amazon is also offering discounted bundles of its Echo devices with related items, such as the the new video-oriented Echo Show, combined with an Arlo security system. Amazon has the full preview of the “hundreds of thousands of deals” through Prime Day, including everything from TVs, to 3D printers to clothes.
Amazon is all hands on deck from a shipping perspective for Prime Day. The company said it will deploy its fleet of Prime Air jets for Prime Day in the U.S. for the first time.
Here is a look at the company’s shipping operation getting ready for the Prime Day rush:
Alexa-powered device owners will have access to some Prime Day deals two hours ahead of other customers. Amazon also announced recently that it is providing a $20 discount to anyone who orders a $99 Prime membership with an Alexa-powered device. This is an example of Amazon now using its devices and voice platform to help sell more Prime memberships.
A report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners last week estimated total U.S. Prime membership at 85 million, which is up 35 percent from the year-ago quarter and double from two years ago. CIRP also noted that 63 percent of U.S.-based Amazon customers are Prime members.
