Amazon Prime Day Forces Walmart To Respond With Sales Extravaganza

Amazon Prime Day will not be the only major online sales event starting July 15, or at least that’s what Amazon rival Walmart is hoping, as it plans a major sales extravaganza starting on that same date.

In an apparent response to Amazon Prime Day, Walmart has posted a blog on Monday announcing its plan to offer its customers “thousands of great deals […] beginning this week.” The blog also included references to Amazon Prime Day and Amazon’s Prime membership plan.

“We’ve heard some retailers are charging $100 to get access to a sale,” the blog read. “But the idea of asking customers to pay extra in order to save money just doesn’t add up for us.”

The $100 mentioned in the Walmart.com blog is an almost direct reference to the Amazon Prime membership. The Amazon Prime membership costs $99 a year, to be exact.

Amazon Prime Day is Amazon’s major attempt at attracting customers to join its exclusive sales club. According to CNN Money, the July 15 sales event, which also marks Amazon’s 20th anniversary, offers “new and existing Prime members” special deals. Of course, in order to get new members to subscribe, Amazon doesn’t charge new Prime members immediately on Amazon Prime Day. New members are given the chance to try Amazon Prime for 30 days free before having to pay the annual $99.

CNN Money has pointed out that Walmart is copying Amazon in one aspect in its blog post. According to the Walmart blog, the $50 minimum purchase eligible for free shipping at Walmart.com will be slashed to $35, which CNN Money says is also Amazon’s minimum.

Walmart’s dominance in the brick-and-mortar retail arena contrasts slightly with its online presence as it struggles to outshine Amazon, and this is vividly illustrated in Walmart’s reaction to Amazon Prime Day.

Amazon Prime Day and Walmart.com’s sales event are not the first major attempts at bringing holiday-like sales to the summer. As USA Today mentioned, Target has been dropping prices in Black Friday-like July sales events since 2010, and Best Buy has been implementing the idea since 2013.

Amazon Prime Day is a major sales event that marks the company’s 20th anniversary. The amazing sales offers, however, will be available “exclusively for Prime members,” according to Amazon’s website.

Walmart promised everybody “thousands of great deals” and “some special atomic deals” without any “hidden fees or premiums” in response to Amazon Prime Day.

[Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images]