Amazon Prime Day to kick-start on June 21

Amazon Prime Day, the e-commerce company's annual shopping holiday, will take place from June 21 through June 22. As per The Verge, the company officially announced the news regarding Amazon Prime Day on Wednesday. It will take place in select countries and support small business selling partners again amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The shopping extravaganza will offer Prime members over 2 million deals across every category, including fashion, electronics, toys, home decor, automotive, and more. The Prime Day is open to Prime members in the US, the UK, the UAE, Turkey, Spain, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Netherlands, Mexico, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, China, Brazil, Belgium, Austria, and Australia.

The forthcoming summer dates mark a return to form; the retail giant has historically held its shopping extravaganza in mid-July but postponed last year's event until October due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like previous years, you can expect to find discounts on true wireless earbuds, 4K TVs of all sizes and panel types, video games, and more. Outside of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Prime Day has become one of the best opportunities to get deals, whether they're for gifts or yourself.

Amazon says that this year's Prime Day "will feature millions of deals from top brands and more than a million deals from small and medium businesses." The company said that it's investing more than USD 100 million to help small businesses during Prime Day, and members will get a USD 10 credit to use during Prime Day if they spend USD 10 at "select small businesses" on Amazon from June 7 through June 20.

Throughout the event, the company will also spotlight deals on Amazon Live, a streaming platform on which brands and creators highlight various products sold on Amazon. Traditionally, the marquee event has been a huge revenue boon for Amazon, which, despite the ongoing pandemic, managed to bring in USD 108.5 billion in net sales in Q1. Third-party sellers alone earned more than USD 3.5 billion over the two-day event last year, however, the e-commerce giant has not disclosed total sales figures.

Since its inception in 2015, the company has leveraged the global shopping event as a way to retain Amazon Prime subscribers, which now top more than 200 million, and bolster sales during what is often considered a slow period for retailers. This year's Prime Day also takes place during a time of momentous change at Amazon. Andy Jassy, the current CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), is set to become Amazon's CEO on July 5, and the company recently announced its plan to buy MGM for USD 8.45 billion.