NEW YORK -- Amazon critics and competitors are turning the retailer's fifth-annual summer sales event into a platform to air their grievances and push their own wares.
The company's Prime Day now stretches two days, Monday and today, invented as an effort to try to drum up sales during sluggish summer months and sign up more users for its Prime loyalty program.
The Seattle-based e-commerce behemoth said it is offering more than a million deals. Amazon's own products are usually among the strongest sellers.
This year, some used the high-profile event as a way to garner attention for their protests against Amazon.
At a warehouse in Shakopee, Minn., workers planned a strike to raise awareness for workers' conditions. A group of tech workers in Seattle, called Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, is supporting the strike.
Teamsters Local 1224, which represents pilots who fly for air carriers that contract with Amazon Air, planned to send a representative to Minnesota and began its own digital ad campaign to elevate its complaints about work hours and pay.
"As we know firsthand, Amazon's business model too often neglects the well-being of the workers who make the e-commerce giant so incredibly successful," Daniel Wells, pilot with Amazon carrier Atlas Air and union local president, said in a statement. "We're proud to be the airline professionals who fly the planes that deliver Amazon's packages to millions of Americans, but we want to make sure we're engaged in a sustainable, long-term operation. We hope that Amazon takes seriously these striking workers' calls for change."
On Twitter, Massachusetts senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren voiced her support for the workers as well.
Amazon says it already offers what the workers are asking for.
"We provide great employment opportunities with excellent pay -- ranging from $16.25-$20.80 an hour, and comprehensive benefits including health care, up to 20 weeks parental leave, paid education, promotional opportunities, and more," spokesman Brenda Alfred said in a statement in response to the planned strike.
The company has faced labor unrest before in Shakopee and in Europe.
In New York, a coalition of labor groups planned to deliver 250,000 petitions to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Manhattan home calling on the company to cut business ties with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and end what they say are abusive working conditions in its warehouses. And some on Twitter called for a blanket boycott of Amazon during Prime Day.
San Diego State University Marketing Professor Steven Osinski said the protests were unlikely to have an effect on sales, however.
"I don't think it will have an impact, Americans liking discounts will trump worrying about higher wages for two days," he said.
Meanwhile, market research from RetailMeNot predicts 250 competing retailers will put items on sale this week, up from 194 last year and just 7 when Amazon began the promotion in 2015.
Other retailers have introduced sales to compete against Prime Day. Walmart has a "summer savings event" through Wednesday. Best Buy, eBay, Target and other retailers are also offering discounts.
"If others want to celebrate our birthday, the more the merrier," Amazon said in a statement, addressing the increased competition.
"It's something that shows you the power of Amazon that almost every other retailer is trying to capitalize on the traffic we're seeing online today with promotions by just about everybody," said Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy.
Some people may have delayed purchases until Prime Day, or are making back-to-school shopping purchases ahead of that season.
"Amazon has changed the consumer psychology in terms of summer shopping," he said.
Amazon kicked off the event with a star-studded concert headlined by Taylor Swift.
As for the labor activism, Amazon said that big corporate events present opportunities for its "critics, including unions, to raise awareness for their cause, in this case, increased membership dues."
The company says it has more than 100 million subscribers to its Prime loyalty program, which costs $119 a year and provides free two-day shipping; free streaming movies, TV shows, and music; and other perks.
Sales of consumable products on Amazon were about triple what they are on a typical sales day, according to CommerceIQ, which helps hundreds of consumer brands sell products on the e-commerce site.
The results show Prime Day's appeal stretches beyond electronics, appliances and other big-ticket purchases shoppers usually put off until there's a big promotion. Sales of car seats, appliances and toys were up four to five times a typical day, according to CommerceIQ, which is about the usual rate for a sales event.
Shoppers will spend $5.8 billion on Amazon over the two days, according to an estimate from Coresight Research. That's an 11% increase from last year's 36-hour sale when converted to spending per hour.
Amazon doesn't disclose specific sales information about Prime Day.
Information for this article was contributed by Mae Anderson of The Associated Press, by Benjamin Romano of The Seattle Times and by Spencer Soper of Bloomberg News.
Business on 07/16/2019