In lieu of getting cake and ice cream on its 20th birthday, Amazon has decided to pass the gifts on to its members.
Starting at midnight Wednesday, July 15, Amazon will unleash a celebratory shopping event called Prime Day that will be flooded with more deals than Black Friday exclusively for Amazon Prime members with new deals every 10 minutes, according to a press release.
“Amazon Prime is my life,” 19-year-old accounting sophomore Matt Manzo said. “When I see Prime pop up, I’m like, ‘heck yes, it’ll be here in two days.’”
A Prime membership costs $99 a year, but student members receive six months of free two-day shipping on eligible purchases, according to Amazon’s website. After the six-month trial ends, student memberships cost $49, about the equivalent to the price of filling up a 64 oz. Swamp Head growler eight times.
Steven Kirn, the executive director of the David F. Miller Center for Retailing Education and Research at UF, said the middle of July is the doldrums for lots of retail sales, and Prime Day adds some juice to Amazon’s business.
“Generally in retailing, you want to do stuff that creates buzz, that creates an excitement, that creates some reason for people to come see you that they might have not otherwise,” Kirn said. “Now that it’s Prime Day, you have a new reason to take a look at Amazon.”
Amazon is also encouraging members to experience prime photos, one of the site’s latest developments. From now until Wednesday, members can creatively reveal how Prime enhances their day-to-day activities in the #PrimeLiving photo contest. The most creative photo will be selected and awarded a $10,000 Amazon gift card.
Kerry Bader, 24-year-old UF alumna and IT Analyst, said she has received emails about Prime Day for a couple of weeks.
“Amazon hasn’t given any idea what’s going to be on sale, just that it’s going to be better than Black Friday,” Bader said. “I’m interested to see what they have going on.”
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 7/9/15]
