Big retail sales are no longer limited and timed to only major US holidays. In fact, many retailers have created their own “holidays.” Nordstrom has its popular Anniversary Sale. Nike has Air Max Day. And of course, the online behemoth Amazon has Prime Day.
Introduced in 2015 in part to celebrate Amazon’s 20th anniversary, the first Prime Day was a one-day-only retail holiday that sought to overtake Black Friday as the sales event of the year.
The inaugural Prime Day received some criticism from shoppers who weren’t happy with the quality and quantity of deals offered, but Amazon has stepped up its game in both realms since, and to great success. Prime Day 2017 was the biggest shopping day in company history until it was surpassed by Cyber Monday shortly after.
Prime Day has also been made available in more countries outside the US every year. In 2017, it was extended to Canada, the UK, Spain, Mexico, Japan, Italy, India, Germany, France, China, Belgium, and Austria. This year, it’s also available in Australia, Singapore, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
Amazon’s sale day turns into fail day
The landing page for Prime Day does not work. When most links are clicked, readers are sent to an error page or to a landing page that sends readers back to the main landing page.
Direct links to the product pages, either from outside links or the single product placement on the landing page, seem to work fine. I just bought this tent two weeks ago for $120. Some users are reporting errors when completing a purchase, too.
This is a huge blow to Amazon and its faux holiday Prime Day. The retailer has been pushing this event for weeks and there are some great deals to be had. It’s not a good look for the world’s largest retailer even though the retailer saw glitches last year, too.
Other retailers jumped on Amazon’s bandwagon and are running big sales around Prime Day. As of this post’s publication, both Walmart and Target are not suffering site outages and probably love Amazon’s outage.
Amazon Prime Day’s best tech deals
Amazon Cloud Cam ($60, $120 regular price): One of Amazon’s deepest cuts yet, the company is cutting the price of its 1080p connected security camera in half.
Amazon Kindle Paper White ($80, $120 regular price) – Amazon’s Kindle Paper White is getting a bit long in the tooth, but it’s still one of the best e-readers on the market. The 300 DPI reader usually runs $120 with Special Offers (you know, screen saver ads), but this will get you in at well under $100.
Blink XT 1 Camera System ($75, $130 regular price) – After picking up Blink earlier this year, Amazon’s offering some steep discounts off the smart camera line next week. The weatherproof system can run up to two years on AA batteries.
DJI Mavic Pro Fly More Combo ($999, $1299 regular price) – This is the first year the drone giant is participating in Amazon’s pretend holiday, and it’s going all in, with 10 different discounted packages. We’ve got a sneaking suspicion a new Mavic Pro is just around the corner, but in the meantime, DJI’s taking $300 of the first-gen combo pack for the foldable drone.
NVIDIA Shield TV ($139, $179 regular price) – Shield TV streams Amazon and Netflix video in 4K HDR. The Android-based set top box is also capable gaming — this is NVIDIA, after all. Users can stream games from a PC or the cloud, via GeForce Now. There are also a number of exclusive Android gaming titles on-board for good measure.
Razer Phone (Up to 25-percent off): The “deepest discount on Razer Phone to-date,” according to the company. No specifics on how much the $700 phone will be discounted — only that it will be up to a quarter off the full price. The Android handset has some beefy specs, in order to power a mobile gaming experience.