Amazon’s Black Friday Week Adds Record Number of Exclusives

By James Calloway

Amazon said its annual Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday events will run from Nov. 19 through Nov. 30, with 12 days of themed deals and discounts of up to 60%. The company detailed the schedule in a Tuesday press release.

Amazon will launch twice-daily deal announcements on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the company said. This will be the first use of that cadence for the events.

What changes in Amazon’s 12-day promotion?

Amazon said the lineup includes a record number of Amazon exclusives and millions of deals. Its offer covers four areas:

• Themed deal days for toys, technology, fashion and beauty.
• Category-specific days for premium gifts and stocking stuffers.

Amazon listed these partnership and brand offers:

• Partnership deals with Swarovski, Caraway, Spicy Dan and Naadam.
• Discounts from Le Creuset, HP, Google and Stanley.

Amazon will combine themed deal days with category-specific offers, while Black Friday and Cyber Monday add twice-daily announcement windows at midnight and 8 a.m. PT.

How will Amazon personalize holiday shopping?

Amazon said the holiday shop will tailor gift recommendations to each shopper’s history, preferences and family needs. The company said the most relevant ideas will appear first.

For shoppers who want recipients to choose their own gifts, Amazon will offer personalized digital gift cards called Talking Pets. Customers can upload a pet photo and bring it to life to deliver a holiday greeting, the company said.

Amazon’s AI-powered Alexa for Shopping will create product alerts, track deals and prices, and auto-buy products when the price is right during the promotion, the company said. Doug Herrington, CEO of worldwide Amazon stores, said: “Alexa for Shopping acts as a personal holiday shopping expert — creating lists, tracking prices, setting deal alerts, and doing the deal hunting.”

Which sellers and brands will feature?

More than 60% of sales in Amazon’s store come from independent sellers, Amazon said. Shoppers can ask Alexa to shop small businesses or locate a company’s Small Business badge, according to the company.

Amazon also announced dozens of discounts ahead of the event for Yankee Candle, Calvin Klein, Mario Badescu, Crayola and private-label Amazon Essentials, the company said. The wider promotion includes promotional pricing on Amazon devices, special offers on Kindle, Prime Visa and Prime Store Cards, plus auto and travel discounts.

Amazon will hold a Prime for Young Adults day on Nov. 24, the company said.

Sports fans can watch games on Amazon Prime and shop merchandise shown during broadcasts through the Shop the Game experience, Amazon said. Amazon named Nov. 25 and Black Friday as dates for the shoppable broadcasts.

What do recent sales figures show?

Adobe estimated that Amazon’s October Prime Big Deal Days brought nearly $10 billion in online sales for U.S. retailers. The estimate came just over a month before the November events.

Amazon moved Prime Day from Q3 to Q2 this year but did not release sales figures after the event, the company said. Adobe estimated the June event increased U.S. online retail spend by 9.3% year over year, to $26.4 billion.

Amazon reported third-quarter online store net sales of $68.5 billion, up 2% year over year. Physical store net sales rose at the same rate to $5.7 billion. Online store sales ran about 12 times physical store sales in the quarter.

On its Oct. 29 earnings call, CEO Andy Jassy said retail remains important to Amazon as the company devotes more energy to Amazon Web Services and AI investments. Jassy said: “I’m not aware of another retail business approaching Amazon’s revenue size — hundreds of billions of dollars, with double-digit operating margins inclusive of ads — that’s growing at this pace.”

What should retailers watch?

Amazon enters the holiday period with 12 themed deal days, record exclusives and AI-powered recommendations, according to the company. The promotion will test whether twice-daily announcements and personalized discovery can turn millions of deals into holiday sales across Amazon’s store, where independent sellers account for more than 60% of sales.