Amazon to hold Prime Day event on October 13-14

Amazon.com Inc said on Monday it would hold its annual shopping event, Prime Day, on Oct. 13 and 14 as the e-commerce giant aims for an early kickstart to the holiday season.

The company earlier this year had postponed the two-day shopping event, which started in 2015 to drum up sales during the summer shopping lull, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amazon said it is investing an additional $100 million in special Prime Day and holiday promotional programs.

The Seattle-based company is on an expansion spree on the back of a meteoric rise in its business, thanks to a surge in online orders during coronavirus-induced lockdowns, which helped it post its biggest-ever quarterly profit in 26 years in July.

The company does not disclose revenue from the event, but has said that merchants contributed to $2 billion in sales during Prime Day in 2019, which spanned for 48 hours and 18 countries.

Amazon’s stock, which has surged nearly 70% this year, was up about 1% at $3124.54 in afternoon trade on Monday.