Amazon's annual shopping event Prime Day is reportedly being delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Prime Day is being postponed "at least until August," according to a report Friday from Reuters.
Prime Day is typically held in July. The 48-hour sale last year was "largest shopping event in Amazon history" and "surpassed the previous Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined." Prime members bought more than 175 million items during the Prime Day stretch.
Prime Day has attracted great attention worldwide, after starting as a much smaller sale in 2015. Now hundreds of other retailers join in the summer sale, and consumers tend to delay their purchasing in anticipation of Prime Day.
By delaying Prime Day this year, Amazon expects potentially a $100 million hit from "excess devices it may now have to sell at a discount," according to Reuters, citing internal meeting notes.
Amazon declined to comment.
Customers have been flooding to Amazon's online stores, as millions are asked to stay home to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Earlier this week, Amazon stopped selling some face masks, antibacterial wipes and other hard-to-find health care products to the general public, saying it'll sell these items only to governments and health providers during the coronavirus pandemic.
There are now over 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases globally, with more than 245,000 in the US. Amazon on Thursday put in place a new series of measures to protect its employees, amid criticism from workers, advocacy groups and lawmakers about the company's handling of the crisis.
