Amazon said in a press release that it will hold its Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday events from November 19 through November 30, with what it called a record number of Amazon exclusives, Retail Dive reported. The 12 days include themed deals for toys, technology, fashion and beauty, and for the first time Amazon will announce deals twice daily on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, at midnight and 8 a.m. PT, with discounts of up to 60%.
Amazon is pairing the event with AI features. Its holiday shop surfaces gift recommendations based on shoppers' history, preferences and family needs, and Alexa for Shopping lets shoppers set product alerts, track prices and auto-buy items when a price is reached. Doug Herrington, CEO of worldwide Amazon stores, said Alexa for Shopping "acts as a personal holiday shopping expert." Shoppers can also ask it to shop small businesses; Amazon says more than 60% of sales in its store come from independent sellers.
Retail Dive noted that Adobe estimated October's Prime Big Deal Days brought nearly $10 billion in U.S. online sales. Amazon's third-quarter online store net sales rose 2% to $68.5 billion.