AMZN Soars on Prime Day Before Holidays: Should Others Worry?

The holiday season holds robust growth prospects as it provides retail companies with the scope of additional revenue generation. Hence, the season is significant for both online and offline retailers.

Keeping this in mind, Amazon AMZN, which comes out with record-breaking holiday sales every year, has planned differently this year, with a two-day special Prime Day mega shopping event that is set to start from Oct 13.

The online retail giant is conducting Prime Day event twice a year for the first time, which is allowing it to gain investors’ confidence further as the event date is nearing. Notably, the stock has soared 6% in the past week.

The move is likely to drive the company’s momentum among customers as well as sellers, which, in turn, will likely strengthen its 2020 holiday performance.

Past-Week's Price Performance

Additionally, conducting the Prime Day event during this time of the year is likely to be a game-changer for the company’s holiday season initiatives amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has highlighted the importance of e-commerce technology.

Moreover, on the heels of its second Prime Day event, Amazon poses a strong challengeto the retail behemoths like Walmart WMT, Target TGT, Bed Bath & Beyond BBBY, DICK’S Sporting Goods DKS, and Big Lots BIG,which are leaving no stone unturned to bolster their holiday performance and bridge their gap with this e-commerce dominant.

Amazon to Remain Ahead of the Pack

Amazon is expected to remain ahead of the above-mentioned companies in the holiday season on the back of a lot of enticing Prime Day deals and other holiday initiatives

Notably, the company isinvesting $100 million on special Prime Day and holiday promotional programs in a bid to deliver an enhanced shopping experience to buyers and support sellers, especially smaller businesses.

Amazon is offering great deals on items featured in the Support Small storefront, Amazon Handmade and Amazon Launchpad.

Apart from this, the company is offering more than a million deals with deep discounts on Amazon devices, including Echo speakers, Fire TVs, Fire tablets, eero Wi-Fi systems, Ring and Blink smart home security products, home and kitchen items, groceries, beauty products, health and personal care products, fashion items, gardening products, toys and games, consumer electronics from various brands, baby products, sports items, pets care and automotive tools.

Also, Prime shoppers will get good deals on Amazon brands, including Solimo, AmazonBasics, Happy Belly and Amazon Elements.

Further, it is offering a $10 credit to Prime members, who spend $10 on items sold by selected small businesses in Amazon’s store. The credit amount can be used during the Prime Day event.

Notably, the above-mentioned endeavors are expected to make the underlined event a successful one. Moreover, Amazon’s expanding fulfilment network, strengthening ultrafast delivery services and pick-up options, solid Prime momentum, and aggressive retail strategies are likely to continue acting as key catalysts.

We expect the Prime Day event to drive the company’s worldwide holiday sales growth as it will be conducted in 19 countries namely the United States, the U.K., U.A.E, Spain, Singapore, Netherlands, Mexico, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, China, Canada, Belgium, Austria, Australia, Turkey and Brazil.

In addition to the Prime Day event, the company announced plans to recruit as many as 100,000 full- and part-time employees to meet the surge in online demand more efficiently.

Year-to-Date Price Performance

Let's sneek-peek into what others are doing.

Walmart & DICK’s Sporting on Hiring Spree

Walmart and DICK’s Sporting are bracing up for the holiday season sales on the back of their hiring spree. Both companies are striving to address change in customers’ shopping patterns (more preference for online shopping due to the COVID-19 outbreak) during this holiday season, with the support from their strengthening workforce.

Notably, Walmart announced plans to employ more than 20,000 seasonal workers at its countrywide e-commerce fulfilment centers to meet the expected surge in online shopping.

Moreover, workforce strength will continue to aid the company in providing fast contactless pick-ups and safe delivery services such as Express Delivery, Free Next Day or Free Two-Day Shipping, and Pickup and Delivery.

DICK’s Sporting expects to hire up to 9,000 seasonal associates during its third annual “National Signing Day” to be held on Oct 14. This will likely help the company in handling the holiday shopping rush.

Target’s Focus on Toys

Target is gearing up for the holiday season sales, with its deepening focus on the toy category.

Reportedly, the company teamed up with FAO Schwarz, which is likely to prove fruitful amid the holidays. Per the terms of the deal, FAO Schwarz’s exclusive 70-piece toy collection will be available at all of Target’s 1,900 stores as well as online.

Apart from this, Target will offer 19 exclusive toys from the likes of Disney and Lego.

We note that the above-mentioned efforts will help Target to bridge the gap with Amazon in this holiday season.

Strong Delivery Efforts by Bed Bath & Beyond and Big Lots

Notably, Bed Bath & Beyond and Big Lots are putting efforts to strengthen their delivery capacities to keep pace with others during the busy holiday season.

Bed Bath & Beyond recently partnered with Instacart and delivery service provider Shipt to enhance its omni-channel capabilities ahead of the holiday season.

Meanwhile, Big Lots’ partnership with Instacart to provide same-day deliveries from across nearly 1,400 Big Lots’ stores remains noteworthy. This is likely to aid its momentum across grocery, home decor, kitchen and dining products, and personal care items during the holiday season.

Zacks’ 2020 Election Stock Report:

In addition to the companies you learned about above, we invite you to learn more about profiting from the upcoming presidential election. Trillions of dollars will shift into new market sectors after the votes are tallied, and investors could see significant gains. This report reveals specific stocks that could soar: 6 if Trump wins, 6 if Biden wins.

Check out the 2020 Election Stock Report >>

Click to get this free report Target Corporation (TGT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Walmart Inc. (WMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Big Lots, Inc. (BIG) : Free Stock Analysis Report Bed Bath Beyond Inc. (BBBY) : Free Stock Analysis Report DICKS Sporting Goods, Inc. (DKS) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research