Amazon Prime Day: Best deals of 2019 and what to expect from 2020

Amazon Prime Day 2019 has come and gone, and it was the biggest shopping event the website has ever had. According to a press release from the retail giant, Prime Day sales on July 15 and 16 exceeded the combined sales from its Black Friday and Cyber Monday buying events. This comes as no surprise to anyone who actually participated in Amazon’s massive 48-hour buying holiday, which consisted of some of the best deals all year.

Though Amazon was definitely the heart of Prime Day 2019, one of the most important differences this year was that many other retailers decided to take part in the deal festivities. Walmart, Target, and Best Buy all had their own promotions in an attempt to compete with the Amazon event. That likely means that Amazon Prime Day 2020 will not only be the largest Prime Day for Amazon, but also a huge week for other major retailers as well.

What Made Prime Day 2019 Special

Prime Day 2019 was the fifth annual shopping event celebrating the e-commerce site’s anniversary. Since 2015 when it first launched, Prime Day has grown year-to-year — both in sales and promotions, but also in the length of the event. Last year’s Prime Day event lasted 36 hours. This year’s Prime Day was officially a 48-hour event, but if counting the early access deals on Amazon Echo devices that launched 12 hours before the official start time, the totality of Prime Day 2019 was actually 60 hours long.

Even before early access deals, Amazon threw its Prime members a concert celebration headlined by Taylor Swift. The show is available to stream on Prime Music or Prime Video, but you need to be a Prime member to access, of course.  

Also, in previous years, competing retailers scratched their heads as they wondered how they can capitalize on the Amazon-manufactured event. This year, however, retailers like Walmart, Target, and eBay, all took a serious crack at Amazon by launching their own promotions to coincide with Prime Day, and it appeared to pay off. Mass retailers that rack in over $1 billion in yearly revenue saw a 64% increase in online sales on Monday, the first of two days of Prime Day deals. 

What Were The Best Prime Day 2019 Deals

Though thousands of products across Amazon and other competing sites saw discounts, not all deals are created equal.  

As expected, a bunch of Amazon-owned devices were at their lowest prices ever. The all-new Echo 5 got its first significant discount dropping to just $50. The Echo Dot was on sale for only $22. The new Blink XT2 smart indoor/outdoor security cameras also saw their first-ever sizable price cuts — $90 off the 3 camera kit bundle. Arlo security camera sets also saw significant discounts.

Walmart and Amazon had a tit-for-tat battle with Instant Pots with both retail giants dropping the prices for a handful of models. All Google Home devices also got price cuts at Walmart.

A bunch of 4K smart TVs got huge discounts, but most of those were from Walmart, not Amazon.

All types of Apple products — from iPads to MacBooks to iPhones — got sizable price cuts at Amazon and multiple competing sites. In fact, eBay was running an “Up To 50% Off Apple Products” promotion. 

Other categories we saw notable deals: laptops (especially from Dell and HP), robot vacuums, headphones, and smartwatches. 

What to expect from Prime Day 2020

With Prime Day 2019 finally coming to an end, the next big buying holiday to watch out for is Black Friday. However, if you want to get an idea of what to expect during next year’s big Amazon event, we can make a few guesses based on previous years.

For starters, you can expect Prime Day 2020 to be even bigger. There’s a high probability that the event will be extended to a full 72 hours or even a whole week — much like what Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become for consumers. Additionally, you can expect huge savings from the likes of Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and any other major online retailers that won’t be able to avoid participating in the deals.