Walmart and Amazon fight for supremacy in discount day battle
The retail giants will launch their annual savings days tomorrow, July 8, in an increasingly ferocious battle for consumers' loyalty.
Walmart began its sales days on July 8 last year but Amazon denies strategically choosing this year's dates to clash.
The grocery giant - the US's largest private employer - has extended its sales period across six days, more than last year's four.
Amazon Prime's sales will last four days, ending on Friday July 11.
Walmart has also looked to one-up Amazon by extending its price slashing to its 4,600 stores as well as online.
'The two retail giants are locked in heated competition for US consumer loyalty,' Sky Canaves, an analyst at Emarketer, told the Financial Times.
'Amazon set the early date this year and other retailers are matching or trying to get an even earlier start with their sales.'
Amazon currently dominates the ecommerce industry in the US, taking more than 40 percent of all online sales, according to Emarketer.
Walmart, on the other hand, is the largest brick-and-mortar retailer in the country and is continuing to invest heavily in its online capacity.
As a result, Walmart's online sales are climbing 20 percent a year, adding intense pressure on Amazon.
Amazon launched its first Prime Day in 2015, offering its subscribers exclusive deals on electronics and certain back-to-school goods.
The event was such a success that its competitors began to follow suit with their own summer deals.
Now retail traffic after the July 4 public holiday has started to outdo the traditional Black Friday sales period in November.
This year Prime Day is expected to generate $23 billion in merchandise sales, the total revenue of Amazon and its third-party sellers, according to a Bank of America report.
By comparison, Walmart's US ecommerce arm made $79 billion in sales over the whole of last year.
Amazon Prime's sales will last four days, ending on Friday 11th
The Arkansas-based retailer has pumped resources into improving delivery speeds and has built up its online inventory to more than 500 million items.
'While competition from other retailers like Walmart, Target and Best Buy has increased during Prime Day, we believe that the event will remain a positive driver,' analyst Justin Post said of the findings.
Post told the Financial Times that the decision to spread its deals over four days also suggests Amazon is not short of stock, despite earlier concerns raised by Trump's tumultuous tariff policies.
Walmart launched its Walmart + subscription in 2020, offering unlimited free deliveries for $98 per year.
The membership also offers deals on gas and free grocery deliveries over $35.
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