Amazon created Prime Day in 2015 as a sales event for Amazon Prime subscribers.
The first Prime Day took place on July 15, 2015, marking Amazon’s 20th anniversary. The event offered limited-time discounts and promotions restricted mainly to Prime members, positioning itself as Amazon’s answer to major shopping occasions such as Black Friday. Amazon said the inaugural event would feature more deals than Black Friday, although some shoppers criticized the selection and discount quality.
Prime Day quickly became a major promotional event for Amazon. The company reported that 2016 orders rose 60 percent worldwide compared with the previous year, and the event expanded internationally and grew into a recurring annual campaign. In 2020, the U.S. event moved to October because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The name can cause confusion because “Prime” also refers to Amazon’s subscription service, which began in 2005 with shipping benefits. Prime Day is not the membership itself; it is a shopping promotion built around that membership. Amazon later introduced a second autumn event, first called the Prime Early Access Sale and later Prime Big Deal Days, while still using Prime Day for the main event.