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Amazon announce third annual Prime Day

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As an Amazon Prime account holder for nigh on three years now, it would be sorely hypocritical of me to cast aspersions at the service as a consumerist cult, but I can at least understand the criticism. What we're talking about, after all, is essentially a service where you pay £80 a year for the privilege of faster delivery. Granted you also get access to the video streaming service (almost worth it for American Gods IMHO), but, when it comes down to it, Amazon Prime is for people who exclusively use Amazon to do their online shopping. Amazon. That tax dodging, jack-of-all-trades behemoth. Personally, I think that's OK. It works for me as I buy a LOT of shit online and 90% of that shit is bought through Amazon and delivered next working day free of charge (well, kind of).

Amazon Prime Day, however, is something I should be a little conflicted about. It's a concept that obviously stems from the infamous Black Friday sales, which have become a part of our shared cultural shame over the past decade. It's also, in my experience over the last two years, however, an event that small businesses and entrepreneurs have jumped on with both feet, and that's part of why I still love Amazon. Prime Day 2016 was another record-breaking success for small businesses and entrepreneurs worldwide participating in the event and this year, there will be thousands of small businesses and entrepreneurs participating, representing nearly 40% of all Lightning Deals. Say what you want about the retailer, but it's not above giving a leg up to the little guy. As such, I'm all in for Prime Day this year.

Greg Greeley, Vice President of Amazon Prime, said: “Our members love Prime Day and we were thrilled by the response over the last two years. It is inspiring us to make it even better this year for Prime members. Every side of our business is working to deliver more deals for a record number of shoppers. We even decided that 24 hours in a day just isn’t enough time to shop all of the great deals – so we’re giving Prime members 30 hours to shop on Prime Day!”

The third annual Prime Day has been set for Tuesday 11th July, with hundreds of thousands of deals exclusively for Prime members around the world. This year, Prime Day also technically lasts longer than a day, with members given 30 hours of deal shopping starting at 6pm on Monday, 10th July – and new deals set to drop as often as every five minutes. Prime Day has also expanded to 13 countries this year, with the US, UK, Spain, Mexico, Japan, Italy, India, Germany, France, China, Canada, Belgium and Austria now on board for a day of quick clicking and big spending. To participate in Prime Day, customers in the UK new to Prime can also sign up for a year of Prime for just £59, a £20 saving on the first year’s annual membership fee.

Whether the membership is worth it or not ultimately depends on how much online shopping you do and how patient you are when it comes to waiting for your goods to be delivered (I'm not. Even remotely). But for those of us who relish the thrill of chasing a bargain and hate leaving the house, Amazon Prime Day is just another reason to get on board.

Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster in the UK.

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