Amazon Prime Day: What to expect when it finally launches in Australia

Amazon Prime Day has become a popular mid-year sale in overseas markets since it launched a few years ago, but the giant online marketplace is yet to announce an official start date for its annual sale Down Under.

For those who aren’t already aware, Prime Day is Amazon’s mid-year take on Black Friday – a 24-hour bonanza of deals on thousands on products that's available to Amazon account-holders who've signed up for the online retailer's special Prime membership.

In markets where Prime Day is well established, 2017 was the biggest sales day in Amazon’s history, raking in more traffic than Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and busier than any previous Prime Day the company has hosted. No wonder Amazon boss Jeff Bezos is one of the richest men in the world today.

What is Amazon Prime Day?

Prime Day is Amazon’s members-only sale held once a year, historically in July. To make the most of Prime Day you’ll need to get yourself an Amazon Prime membership which, while not yet available in Australia, is expected to be launching soon.

Currently, in Australia the services which usually come as part of an Amazon Prime membership bundle have been broken up into separate components – such as Prime Video and Amazon Music – although Prime Shipping, which offers superfast delivery for its members, isn’t yet available at all Down Under. It is, however, coming, according to Russell Grandinetti, Amazon’s senior vice president.

Once Amazon Prime officially becomes available in Australia, all these services should fall under the one subscription as it does elsewhere, with a no-commitment 30-day trial to boot.

When can Australia expect to see its first Prime Day?

While Amazon’s launch Down Under wasn’t exactly the big event many consumers were hoping for, the online marketplace is slowing increasing its inventory and offering great deals to its customers.

And while there isn’t any official news yet, Russell Grandinetti did say that the company is “going to launch Prime”, but he was unable to give a timeline when speaking at the Amazon Innovation Day held in Sydney earlier this year.

Historically, Amazon hosts Prime Day on the second Tuesday of July, meaning it will be held internationally on July 10 in 2018. If Amazon does launch Prime Day Down Under this year, we could expect to it to happen then, but we’ll have to wait for the official channels to confirm that speculation.

Last year, Prime Day in the US and UK lasted 30 hours, as opposed to the usual 24, with discounts being unleashed from 9pm local time on July 10 and continuing on till 3am on July 12. Whether we can expect a similar duration for Australia’s first ever Prime Day remains to be seen.

What to expect from Amazon Prime Day

While there’ll be plenty of big-brand discounts to choose from on Prime Day, you can be sure that Amazon will lead with its own devices, especially its Echo smart speakers – including its latest Echo Spot speaker – and Kindle ereaders. Perhaps we can expect to see the Fire TV Stick to be discounted for the first time as well.

Gaming consoles, especially the Nintendo Switch, are already being discounted on Amazon Australia. We could see even better value for money on the Switch, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles when Prime Day rolls around, and it's likely other gaming products including accessories and games themselves will be on sale as well. Whether game bundles will be on offer is anyone’s guess, however.

Philips Hue bulbs are also currently seeing offers go up on Amazon Australia, which is the only retailer we've seen to offer any kind of meaningful discounts on the hugely popular smart lighting system. This could be a precursor for a great offer on not just the individual bulbs but also the starter kits come Prime Day.

You could also find some budget laptops and great headphones for less on Prime Day, and that’s only just a taste of what could be on offer if (or more likely 'when') Amazon brings the sale to Australia.

While you wait for Prime Day to be launched in Australia, don’t miss out on the best Amazon Australia deals on offer.
Looking for more tech bargains? Australia’s mid-year sales are on and we’re rounding up the best EOFY deals through June.

Contributer : Techradar - All the latest technology news https://ift.tt/2K54qVg