Big Retailers Get Early Jump on Seasonal Savings Events
The deals are coming. As the calendar flips to October, retailers are getting ahead of the holiday season with major savings events during the first half of that month.
Amazon, which hit $14.2 billion in sales for its Prime Day event in mid-July, is gearing up for its Amazon Prime Big Deal Days on Oct. 8 and 9. Prime members will get exclusive access to early holiday deals that include home essentials, foods, toys and a slew of seasonal products. Some discounted products are available now for members, including grocery items.
New this year for Prime Deal Days: guidance from Rufus, Amazon’s generative AI-powered conversational shopping assistant. In addition to that tool that provides personalized recommendations, Amazon is also touting its Inspired shopping feed in the Amazon Shopping app that helps users find products from other brands and watch personalized videos with deals based on their interests.
For those who aren’t yet signed up for Prime, Amazon is offering a free 30-day trial. Those shoppers can take advantage of Prime Day sales within that window. After that trial, Prime memberships can be purchased for $14.99 a month or $139 per year.
Target Corp.is timing its major fall sale close to Amazon’s event, as it did earlier this summer with its Deal Days. The mass retailer announced the return of Target Circle Week from Oct. 6-12, featuring seven days of deals with discounts up to 50% off on select items.
This program, too, is based on membership, available for those enrolled in Target’s free-to-join Target Circle program. Members can take advantage of a Deal of the Day feature and also score perks like a $10 Target gift card with a $40 dollar purchase of health and beauty items. In time for Halloween, members can enjoy a “buy one and get one 50%” deal on costumes and seasonal candy packages.
To encourage more shoppers to join its membership program, Target announced that customer who sign up for Target Circle 360 can receive 50% off their next same-day delivery order of $50 or more.
"Our October Target Circle Week is our biggest sale of the fall and gives our members the best of Target, so they can stock up on everyday essentials while discovering new trends and inspiring some early holiday shopping," said Cara Sylvester, EVP and chief guest experience at Target.
Likewise, Walmart is getting a jump on peak shopping season with its first-ever Walmart Holiday Deals event slated for Oct. 8-13. Shoppers can save on a range of products across several categories; Walmart+ members can get exclusive early access 12 hours before non-members on Walmart.com and the app, Looking ahead to holiday meals, Walmart shared deals of its budget-friendly holiday meal offering that serves up to 10 people and includes 28 Thanksgiving meal items for less than $7 per person. The retailer is offering its “inflation-free holiday meal” weeks earlier this year, starting Oct. 14. Also new for 2024 is the ability for shoppers to gift a complete holiday meal for pickup or delivery to family, neighbors and friends anywhere in the country.
Seattle-based Amazon is No. 2 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. Minneapolis-based Target Corp. is No. 7 on The PG 100, with nearly 2,000 locations. Each week, approximately 255 million customers and members visit Walmart’s more than 10,500 stores and numerous e-commerce websites in 19 countries. Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on the PG 100.
