Amazon (AMZN) shares moved higher Monday after the world's biggest online retailer said it would hold an early October shopping event to capture demand from value-focused consumers.
Following a move from Target (TGT) last week to kick-start its holiday sales efforts a week earlier this year, Amazon said it will host a two-day "Prime Early Access Sale" that begins on Tuesday October 12 and will focus on those with memberships to the retailer' Amazon Prime membership program.
Target said last week that its Target Deal Days event will begin on October 6, with a 'price-match guarantee' that extends until December 24, as it looks to capture a greater share of holiday spending that is likely to see shoppers seeking relief from the fastest domestic inflation rates in four decades.
Deloitte's holiday retail sales forecast, published earlier this month, indicates overall holiday purchases will rise between 4% and 6% from last year to around $1.46 trillion, a marked slowdown from the 15% gains recorded over the same period in 2021.
“We are so excited to help Prime members kick off the holiday season with Amazon’s new Prime Early Access Sale," said Prime vice president Jamil Ghani. "It's an exclusive opportunity for members to get deep discounts on top brands we know they are looking for this time of year.”
Amazon shares were marked 2.1% higher in late-morning trading to change hands at $116.07 each.
Amazon posted a second consecutive quarterly loss in late July, thanks in part to a $3.9 billion writedown of its stake in electric carmaker Rivian (RIVN), but blew past Street sales forecasts and booked solid gains from its market-leading cloud division.
Online store sales, however, fell 4.3% to $50.885 billion, but with the bulk of its sales -- 57% -- filtering through from third-party sellers, Amazon did not suffer from the same inventory bloat, and its cash-generating web services division helped offset the online sales decline.
Amazon said it sees operating income of between zero and $3.5 billion for the current quarter, which ends in September, on revenues in the range of $125 billion to $130 billion, compared to the Refinitiv forecast of around $126.5 billion.
