The Amazon Prime Day 2022 date is now officially confirmed as "July". While we don't have a more precise date for the annual sales event yet, T3 has been covering Amazon sales for over six years now – and I've personally covered the last four Prime Days – so we can already make some reasonably confident predictions about Prime Day 2022.
Last year, Amazon Prime Day 2021 took place over two days in June with the 48-hour period seeing the best deals matching or beating previous Prime Day sale prices. Now that it's in the rear view mirror, we can look ahead to this year's event, starting with that all important question: when is Prime Day 2022?
When is Amazon Prime Day 2022?
Amazon has now confirmed that the Amazon Prime Day date will be in July 2022. An Amazon spokesperson stated:
"This year, Prime Day will take place in July in more than 20 countries. During Amazon’s annual shopping event, Prime members will be able to save on products from national brands and small businesses across every category."
As to the specific Amazon Prime Day date, that is still unconfirmed. However, I think I can make an educated guess, based on when past events were held.
My current prediction for the Amazon Prime Day 2022 date is this: Amazon Prime Day 2022 will take place on Monday 11 July and Tuesday 12 July, 2022. I expect it to start at a minute past midnight on the Monday and finish at 23:59 on the Tuesday, so like last year it'll be a 48 hour event (minus two minutes).
That means we're now less than two months away from Prime Day 2022!
- Don't want to wait? Browse today's deals at Amazon
That mid-July date prediction is echoed by a report at Digital Commerce 360 which cites a March 2 announcement from Amazon to sellers who use the Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) service. The post is titled "Plan your shipment early for Prime Day 2022" and it says that sellers have until 29 April to submit their deals for Prime Day consideration. It also says: "Plan and send your shipment so that it arrives at fulfillment centers before June 20."
The Digital Commerce 360 report quotes Fahim Naim from ecommerce consulting agency Advantage Unified Commerce as saying: "Barring any major any setback, and based on the data and the timing of the information on Seller Central, all the stars are lining up for July 11 or 18." The same report says it is "extremely unlikely" Amazon Prime Day will be on the first Monday in July which is Independence Day in the US. Naim gives 11 July a 70% probability rating, and 18 July a 30% probability.
Popular Prime Day deals from 2021
So what did you buy over Prime Day 2021? Our data shows the most popular products that you bought via T3.com and other websites from Future Publishing. They're listed in the widget below – some of the products are showing a price cut right now. We also have additional data from Amazon and US insights firm Numerator.
Amazon UK contacted us with some info on how Prime Day 2021 went down at their end. Here's what they told us:
The Fire TV Stick 4K Ultra HD with Alexa Voice Remote was the most popular item purchased during the Prime Day event in the UK. Some of the top categories Prime members shopped during Prime Day in the UK included Hardware, Skin Care, Devices, Spirits and Make-up.
Top Sellers: Some of the top-selling products in the UK during the Prime Day event, excluding Amazon Devices, were the: Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner, Andrex 54 Toilet Rolls, Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack Tennessee Whiskey, Finish All-in-One Max Dishwasher Tablets, CeraVe SA Smoothing Cleanser, Pinch of Nom Everyday Light Recipe Book and Oral-B Smart 6 6000N CrossAction Electric Toothbrush.
Beauty: Among the top-selling products during the Prime Day event from the beauty category were the CeraVe SA Smoothing Cleanser, CeraVe Moisturising Lotion, Maybelline New York Lash Sensational Sky High Mascara, Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge and Bed Head By Tigi Shampoo And Conditioner Set.
Consumer Electronics: Among the top-selling products during the Prime Day event outside of Amazon Devices from the consumer electronics category were the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker, Sony WF-1000XM3 Truly Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones, Sennheiser HD 450BT Wireless Headphones and GoPro HERO8 Black Bundle.
Grocery: Among the top-selling products during the Prime Day event from the grocery category were the Lindt Lindor Treat Bar 38 g (Pack of 24), Ferrero Rocher Chocolate Gift Box, 42 Chocolates, Barr American Cream Soda Fizzy Drink Cans, NESTLE The Big Biscuit Box, Chocolate Biscuit Bars x71, Lavazza Crema e Aroma, Arabica and Robusta Medium Roast Coffee Beans, 1kg.
Small and Medium-Sized Business Top Selling Categories: Top-selling categories for third-party selling partners during the Prime Day event in the UK include Lighting, Exercise and Fitness, Skincare, Housewares, Headphones, Linens, Wireless Accessories, Nail Care and Outdoors.
Small and Medium-Sized Business Top Sellers: Top-selling products in the UK from third-party selling partners during the Prime Day event include the: Greenzla Reusable Make-up Remover Pads, Gritin Resistance Bands, Dreamon Take Apart Dinosaur Toys, Solar Garden String Lights and Anker Power Bank.
We also have some interesting data from insights firm Numerator. It says that in the US, the average Prime Day 2021 order size was $44.75, down from $54.64 on Prime Day 2020 and $58.91 on Prime Day 2019. One in 10 households (11%) who shopped Prime Day placed 5+ orders throughout the event. More than half (55%) placed 2+ orders.
In a survey of 3,132 verified Prime Day buyers, Numerator found that one in 10 Prime Day buyers (10%) joined Amazon Prime since the onset of COVID-19. 2% of those joined on Prime Day 2021. Top categories that Prime Day buyers reported purchasing are Health & Beauty (28%), Consumer Electronics (28%), Household Essentials (27%), Apparel & Shoes (27%), Home & Garden (26%), and Smart Home Devices (17%). Among those who bought smart home devices on Prime Day, two-thirds (66%) said their purchase was Amazon-branded.
What will be the best Prime Day deals of 2022?
Aah, the big question! It's much too early to be able to point at specific products that will be getting a Prime Day price cut but one thing is for certain: Amazon's own devices will get some heavy price cuts during the Prime Day 2022 sale, as they do every year. So if you're after an Echo speaker or smart display, a Fire TV stick or tablet or a Kindle e-reader, then Prime Day is likely to be the time you'll see these devices at their cheapest. Expect deals on other brands that Amazon owns, too – Ring and Blink security cameras and doorbells, and eero Wi-Fi mesh systems, for example.
There are also likely to be deals on Amazon services such as Amazon Music, Prime Video, Kindle Unlimited and Audible. If these deals follow the patterns of previous years, they will take the form of reduced monthly subscriptions for periods such as three months, and for new users only.
Other product categories that are likely to see decent discounts for Prime Day 2022 are TVs, headphones, small appliances, sports and fitness equipment, electric toothbrushes and shavers. We expect to see discounts in every department at Amazon and so the biggest challenge will be sorting through them to find the best ones. That's where T3 can help. Keep this page bookmarked because we'll be adding the best Prime Day deals to this article.
Will there be any Prime Day PS5 deals? My prediction is "yes, but don't expect cheap PS5 consoles". I think it's very likely that there will be deals on official accessories, games and peripherals as well as console+game bundles. As for discounts on the PS5 console itself? Probably not. I'd hope that by Prime Day 2022 the PS5 restock debacle will be drawing to a close but the market won't be so awash in consoles that Amazon can suddenly start discounting them. My guess is that the first notable PS5 console discounts will arrive for Black Friday 2022.
If you're planning to snap up a Google device on the cheap over Prime Day – perhaps a Nest Audio, Hub, Cam or Doorbell, then you'll want to look somewhere other than Amazon as Amazon doesn't sell Google devices. In the past, we've seen Currys offer good discounts on Google devices during the Amazon Prime Day sale so we'll be hoping for the same in 2022. I'd also look to AO.com for Google device deals over the Prime Day period.
Below is a selection of products that – due to their popularity being high and their release date not being too recent – could be very good candidates for Prime Day discounts. All prices shown are live Amazon prices, so if they get discounted early, you can be one of the first to know.
Other items we expect to see getting decent price cuts for Prime Day 2022 include the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, Fitbit Sense, Garmin Forerunner 245, Garmin Forerunner 745 and Garmin Forerunner 945, the Ninja Foodi Smartlid, Instant Vortex, Tower Air Fryer Express, Beats Powerbeats Pro, Beats Studio Buds, JBL Flip 5, JBL Charge 5 and the Ring Video Doorbell 2nd Gen.
How often does Amazon do Prime Day?
Amazon does Prime Day once a year, though 2016 was the last time it ran for 24 hours. It extended the event to run for 48 hours in 2019, and again for 2020 and 2021, so although you could (correctly) argue that is actually two Prime Days, the Prime Day sale event happens once a year.
How long is Amazon Prime Day?
While Prime Day started as a 24-hour sale when it was introduced in 2015 it stretched to 30 hours in 2017, to 36 hours in 2018 and then to 48 hours for 2019, 2020 and 2021. For 2022, I expect Prime Day to be 48 hours' long again.
Can you get a free Prime account for Prime Day?
Yes, if you've not had a Prime account before, as Amazon offers all new customers a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime. After that you'll be charged £7.99 a month or £79 a year, but you can cancel your Prime account at any time during the trial and you won't be charged.
Get your free Amazon Prime UK trial
Another way to get those Prime Day deals without paying for a Prime Account is if someone in your household has a Prime account (either a paid account or a free trial) then they can share certain Amazon Prime benefits with one other adult by forming an Amazon Household. Prime benefits that can be shared with the other adult in the Amazon Household include: Prime Delivery, Prime Early Access and Prime-Exclusive items. For someone in your household to share their Prime benefits, they'll need to visit their Amazon Prime account page. On this page, under Share your Prime Benefits, they can invite you by clicking the Invite someone now button.
If you're a student, Amazon will give you a free six-month Amazon Prime trial. After that, Prime Student will cost you just £3.99 a month. Prime Student has additional benefits including money off text books, fashion, stationary, nutrition and other uni essentials.
Get your free Amazon Prime UK student trial account
Is the Amazon Prime price going up this year?
In the US, Amazon announced on Thursday 3 February that it would be increasing the annual Prime subscription cost to $139 a year, an increase of 17% over its previous price of $119. Previous Prime membership price hikes came March 2014 and May 2018, the latter increase taking Prime from $99 to $119 a year. A monthly Prime account in the US goes from $12.99 to $14.99. The change kicks in for new members 18 February, while current members will be charged the higher rate after 25 March.
In the UK there has been no such announcement, so the UK Prime prices remain the same as they are now. As reported by MarketWatch, analysts at Jefferies who predicted the US price rise also said at the time that they thought the price range would be restricted to the US to in order to continue growing membership in other countries and so for now, at least, the analysts are correct.
Home delivery company ParcelHero remains convinced that the UK Amazon Prime price is going to increase, however. Writing on IT Supply Chain, ParcelHero's Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks said "Although not imminent, we’d be surprised if Amazon didn’t follow suit here in the UK, given the current increase in fuel and energy costs. A similar 17% rise in its UK membership fee would take it from £79 to £92. That’s quite a jump, but probably not enough to result in mass cancellations." I contacted Amazon UK to get their response and they said: "This price change only applies to the US. We keep this under constant review, but have nothing to announce at this time."
Do any other retailers do Prime Day?
They won't call them Prime Day sales but plenty of retailers do hold sales in July – a traditional sales month – and I'd expect lots of them to align their sales with Prime Day or perhaps kick them off a week or so ahead of Prime Day. In the UK, if it's alternative Prime Day sales you're after, keep an eye on Currys, AO.com, Argos, and John Lewis. Our best sales article is updated every month with the hottest sales to shop so when Prime Day rolls around, do check it out for alternative Prime Day sales.
Are Amazon Prime Day deals real?
This is a question that gets asked a lot and not just on Amazon Prime Day, but Black Friday, too. And there are two answers – but both centre on what you consider a 'deal' to be.
The first is that, yes, you do get products discounted on Amazon Prime Day, and sometimes they are discounted down to prices that they have never been at before. That in many people's eyes is a deal.
The thing is, though, as proved by numerous studies such as this 2022 report by Semrush, a lot of deals offered up during sales events such as Amazon Prime Day and Black Friday don't actually offer that good a discount.
The practice of artificially spiking prices on items in the weeks or months running up to a sales event, only so that they can then offer what looks like a large discount percentage, is rife within the industry, and what goes from being a jaw-dropping deal ends up in reality being just a small to modest price cut.
Of course, if you've wanted that product then you've still got it, and got it for marginally cheaper than it has been available for before, so in that sense you could say you've still got a deal.
Another thing to factor into if a product is a 'deal' or not is where the product is in its lifecycle. If a 4K OLED TV is £400 off and it's being on the market for a year, then that's more just end-of-life price degradation in advance of its replacement coming out. Of course, the counter argument to that is that just because a product has been on the market for a while doesn't make it bad, or buying it at that point a bad deal.
Lastly, it is important to note the other elephant in the room – Black Friday. According to that Semrush report linked to above the biggest discounts of the year come during the Black Friday sales period, which coincides with the months of November and December.
As such, while Amazon Prime Day 2022 will be a great opportunity to buy discounted products, there's no guaranteeing those products won't be cheaper still during the Black Friday sales this year.
How not to get ripped off on Prime Day
T3 has been covering Amazon Prime Day for years now and during that time we've accrued plenty of expertise in how to make sure you get a good deal.
As we've mentioned above, exactly what a 'good deal' is will vary from person to person and is definitely subjective, however, we feel that by following these tips anyone can help reduce the change of being left with buyer's remorse.
1. Don't be afraid to browse opportunistically, but in general go into Prime Day with a clear hit list of the products (or product categories) you're looking to shop for. Many of the worst buying mistakes made during big shopping events are when people buy off the cuff, so try to stick to a considered plan.
2. Do your research before the event. If you want, say, a 4K HDR TV then look into the different screen types, sizes, features and makers before Prime Day happens. This will help you make decisions quicker when deals pop-up.
3. Set a budget for your Prime Day shopping spree and stick to it. Don't be afraid to modify that budget if a fantastic opportunity appears, of course, but in general set a spending limit and stick to it.
4. Look at a product's Prime Day price, not the discount attached to it. Don't lose track of how much a product actually should cost. Product makers advertise their products with huge discount percentage figures during the shopping event, but more often than not those are artificial, being based on RRP or a recently inflated price point. Quickly check how much a product is selling for at other retailers, and use price tracking tools like camelcamelcamel.com to see how much that product has retailed for in the past.
5. Finally, don't be afraid to shop last year's products. Big sales events like Prime Day see a lot of makers push last year's products, as they want to clear them before new models arrive. Don't be put off by this, though. Remember, getting a great, cheap deal on a top-rated product from last year is much better than getting a tiny discount on an average product that released this year. Many products only have small evolutionary improvements each year, and often core functionality remains almost identical, so shopping a little behind the product release curve can pay massive dividends.
Amazon Prime Day 2022: will it be better than last year?
Here, Deputy Editor of T3.com and long-term Prime Day sale shopper and worker Robert Jones provides his expert opinion on whether this year's event is going to be better for deals and big in scope than last year.
"From what I've heard from retailers, Prime Day this year is shaping up to be better for deal hunters. We're now clear of the pandemic - in terms of disruption to supply chain and distribution terms - and this will mean there will be more discounted products available during Prime Day 2022.
"The pandemic isn't over though in one very important way – semi-conductor manufacture and supply. And this does have the potential to impact Prime Day offerings in a few notable tech areas. Indeed, Intel's CEO Pat Gelsinger has recently confirmed that the semiconductor shortage will actually drift all the way into 2024.
"I think, right now, what we're looking at with Prime Day 2022 is more discounted products than last year due to increased stock, but prolonged reduced choice in areas like consoles, TVs and computers. There absolutely will be deals to be bagged in tech areas, but my feeling is that the biggest deals this year will be in non-tech categories. I'm thinking small appliances, garments, outdoor and garden products as well as consumables, toys and beauty."
