Christmas in October? Amazon uses the F word – ‘festive’ – to launch its autumn sale
Amazon says its Big Deal Days 2025 event, set to run from 7-8 October, is ‘just in time for the festive season’. Is it too early for Christmas shopping and are Prime members’ events past their prime? The home delivery expert Parcelhero predicts another record Prime event.
The online giant Amazon is already dropping the ‘F’ word – ‘festive’. It says this month’s Big Deal Days 2025 sale, which is planned for 7-8 October, will arrive ‘just in time for the festive season’. While some shoppers may think it’s way too soon to be planning Christmas, the home delivery expert Parcelhero says Amazon’s fall sale is perfectly timed.
Parcelhero’s head of consumer research, David Jinks MILT, says: ‘Anyone thinking that Amazon Prime’s October sale is too early or that Prime events are getting past their prime should think again. In the US, many other stores are also launching their own fall sales at the same time and, if this happens in the UK, we predict a $1bn (£744m) online pre-Christmas spending frenzy this October.
‘Back in July, Parcelhero forecast that Amazon’s main Prime Day summer sale would rake in $24bn globally – a new record. With early spending supposedly falling by 14%, there were alarmist reports of a big dip in sales over the four days but these were unfounded. There was never really any doubt about its success. Sure enough, Amazon later confirmed its July Prime Day had driven record sales. In fact, just as we predicted, Amazon’s first four-day Prime Day event helped push US e-commerce sales to $24.1bn from 8-11 July – a 30.3% increase over Prime Day 2024, according to Adobe Digital Insights.
‘With these results in mind, it’s fair to say that this month’s Big Deal Days event will be a big deal. Amazon says that in the UK alone it will be offering hundreds of thousands of deals during the two-day exclusive event. Among big name brands discounted in its UK sale will be Crocs, De’Longhi, Levi’s, Ninja and OURA.
‘This will be Amazon’s fourth October sale, following events on 8-9 October in 2024, 10-11 October in 2023 and 11-12 October in 2022. Last year, Amazon reported that its third annual fall event was its biggest ever, with more members shopping than the previous year and more items sold than on any previous fall event. It revealed members saved more than $1bn throughout the course of the two-day sale.
‘The omens are also looking good for this year’s event. This week, Amazon has been contacting sellers telling them its advertisers “saw an increase of 36% in units sold using Sponsored Products during Prime Big Deal Days, when compared to average category growth”. That 36% jump in sales for sponsored products during the sale gives an insight into how much shoppers are likely to spend this October.
‘Brits alone spent around £2bn online over the recent July Prime Day sale. UK spending for this month’s Big Deal Days is also likely to achieve strong results, as the sale has proven to be a well-timed start to the Christmas spending season. The good news for shoppers is that, even if they are not members of Amazon’s Prime scheme, there’s also a “trickle-down” bonus. Parcelhero has dubbed it the Prime Halo Effect. Last year, online sales on non-Amazon sites grew by 35% for electronics and 34% for furnishings during the Prime sale period, as other retailers sought to get in on the spending action. That’s why we are predicting online sales during this month’s event will add up to a $1bn pre-Christmas spending frenzy.
‘While this latest Big Deal Days event is likely to be a big deal for consumers and sellers, it is just one of the ways in which Amazon is continuing to raise its market share on this side of the Pond. It recently announced plans to invest £40bn in the UK over the next three years. This investment includes building four new fulfilment centres, new delivery stations nationwide, two new buildings at its corporate HQ in East London and ongoing improvements to Amazon’s transportation infrastructure.
‘Back in 2015, Parcelhero’s ground-breaking report on the future of Amazon predicted the introduction of Amazon Logistics and the growth of Prime Day. Find out what other plans Amazon is developing in our far-sighted report: https://www.parcelhero.com/content/downloads/pdfs/amazon/amazons-prime-ambition-parcelhero-industry-report.pdf