The coronavirus crisis has hit some sellers hard, with many online shoppers in recent months focusing on essentials over other kinds of purchases while they wait and see how the pandemic pans out.
Hoping to provide a much-needed boost for its third-party sellers, Amazon is close to announcing a one-off “fashion summer sale event,” according to CNBC News, which saw an internal document about the initiative.
The event is set to start on June 22, and the online shopping giant wants to use it to “drive excitement and jump-start sales,” according to a message sent to sellers inviting them to get involved.
In other words, it’s aimed at providing relief for sellers struggling in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. It could also be a way of making up for Amazon’s reported decision to push its annual Prime Day event from its usual slot in July to August at the earliest, with the Wall Street Journal recently claiming it won’t happen until September. The decision to delay the annual 48-hour shopping extravaganza was apparently taken by Amazon after the coronavirus pandemic put pressure on its shipping operation, leading to delivery problems.
This month’s summer sales event is likely to last for between 7 and 10 days and offer discounts of at least 30% on select items. The event currently has a working title of “Biggest Sale in the Sky,” though this could change as many of the details are still being finalized, according to CNBC News.
It’s not clear if discounts will be applied to items across the site. The document mentions “fashion,” but this could cover part of the sales event rather than act as the main focus. It’s also not known if discounted items will be available to Prime members only, or to everyone.
While details are still fairly thin on the ground, we expect Amazon to go public with the plan in the coming days to ensure as many shoppers as possible get to hear about it.
In the meantime, Digital Trends has reached out to the e-commerce company for more information on the reported sales event and we will update this piece when we hear back.
