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What Will Prime Day 2020 Look Like With Amazon’s Inventory Restrictions?

The usual timeline of a July Prime Day was clearly not going to happen. Initially, the date was rumored to be in September. This month, Amazon told third party sellers that it would be held the week of October 5. This October timing is troublesome for many brands for several reasons:

Proximity to the Black Friday / Cyber Monday shopping holiday.
There are only 50-something days between an estimated Prime Day date and Black Friday. This gives brands little time to restock between major shopping events. Many brands have supply chains which require 60 days or more for ordering inventory. As it stands, Amazon’s cutoff to have inventory at its fulfillment centers is September 11, a mere 58 days away.

Back to school shoppers will miss Prime Day as a major stock-up event.
That said, with in-person education in a state of flux, the back to school rush was always going to look unusual in 2020.

Missing out on a summertime sales boost.
For many brands, Prime Day provides a welcome boost to the summer sales dip. 2020 saw all kinds of market forces interrupting regular shopper behavior - including stimulus checks and stay-at-home orders - which would have invariably had some impact on summertime sales. Still, many brands have come to rely on a July Prime Day sale to clear out inventory and pick up the pace during a historically slow season.