Like clockwork, nearly all the major retailers and marketplaces announced their October sales events back-to-back last week, because holiday shopping starts in October now. Remember when there used to be just one Prime Day each year? Anyway…
- Amazon will hold its Prime Big Deal Days sale on October 6 and 7, giving Prime members across 22 countries 48 hours of discounts in more than 35 categories. Amazon plans to release new limited-time deals at midnight, 8 a.m., and 1 p.m. PDT each day, including discounts from brands that only recently started selling on Amazon. It’s also pushing shoppers toward Alexa for Shopping this year, which can watch for deals on particular products or whole categories, pull up a year of price history, flag new releases from a chosen brand, and buy an item automatically once its price falls to a target the shopper sets.
- Target announced its Target Circle Deal Days sale hours later, which will also run on October 6 and 7. Members of Target Circle, its free loyalty program, can get discounts of up to 40% on clothing, home goods, beauty, toys, and tech, while members of Target Circle 360, the $99/year paid tier, can start buying some of the deals a day early on October 5. Target is also using the sale to sign people up, offering 15% off a first purchase to anyone who joins Target Circle between September 27 and October 5, $50 in rewards to new annual Circle 360 members, and $75 in rewards to approved Target Circle Card applicants through October 10.
- Walmart announced the following day that its Deals & More sale will run October 5 through 11, starting at midnight ET and running seven days against Amazon and Target’s two-day sales. Discounts run up to 50% on home goods, 40% on tech, 30% on toys, food, and Halloween items, 25% on tools, and 20% on wellness products. Walmart isn’t gating any of the deals behind a Walmart+ membership, though it’s likely that members will get a head start on deals like they have in previous years.
- Best Buy hasn’t announced dates yet, but it previewed its holiday season plans on September 14, saying savings start in October on gaming, computing, and home theater. It ran Tech Fest June 22 through 28 against Prime Day this summer, marketed on not requiring a membership, so a fall counter-event is likely on the way. It’s also letting shoppers find gift ideas and shop its products through ChatGPT this holiday season, with what Best Buy describes as the new ability to complete purchases directly in the platform, and its marketplace now carries nearly a million products from more than 5,000 brands, including international sellers.
Have any other major sales events been announced for October? Hit reply and let me know so I can add to the list.
