Amazon has just revealed the dates for 2025's Prime Day, and most of the headlines are focussing on it being a 4-day event this year, running from 8-11 July, instead of the usual 2 days. But I think the real headline is far more interesting.
After all, making a retail event longer matters not a jot if the deals are crap. But that's just the thing. According to finance expert Fred Harrington, personal finance expert at SaveMyCent, some of the best deals on tech (including the best laptops for graphic designers) can be found in July, and not in the traditional November sales.
For Fred, the November sales (that is, Black Friday!) is snake oil marketing. “Many of the ‘amazing’ Black Friday deals are actually items marked up weeks earlier, then brought back down to regular price with a flashy discount sticker.”
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Now, as ecom editor on Creative Bloq, I both agree and disagree with this. It is a common practice, and one that we shed a light on when we advise our readers to go for a November deal. (We’ll look at the price history and if the product’s price has been inflated weeks earlier, only to be ‘reduced’ for Black Friday, we just don’t write about those deals.) However, there are still are some genuine deals that we wholeheartedly shout out… still, Fred’s point still stands. It is a problem. But surely it's exactly the same for Prime Day?
Well no, actually. “It's because. retailers are keen to clear summer inventory in late July, to make room for Fall merchandise,” he tells us. “Late July represents the perfect storm of retail necessity and consumer distraction.” The thing is, ‘back to school’ merchandise is coming in around this time, and they need space on the shelf to start selling that. That means shifting summer goods at a discount.
But, I hear you cry, Fred is talking about late July, and Prime Day is early July. I'm sure Fred has does his research and found that the most number of products over a number of categories are on sale in late July. But having covered six Prime Days as ecom editor so far, I’m also confident in saying that decent deals – including record low prices – definitely do crop up over the early July Prime dates. Just not always where’d you expect...
That is, not always from Amazon. We’ve been very clear over the years that the best deals around Prime Day aren’t always to be found at Amazon – for creative tech at least. If you want an Amazon-owned Kindle, Fire TV or Fire tablets then Amazon is the place to go to, and July’s Prime Day will be the best time to buy them in the year, 100%.
But for MacBook Pros aimed at video editors, or the best ergonomic chairs for back pain, early July is still a great time to snag a deal, but it’s really worth shopping around at other retailers – or get our newsletter over Prime Day, where we will share all our top picks with you.
Two other tips from Fred that I also agree with are to split your shopping across seasons and use price tracking tools. I think it’s a really good idea to aim to get one thing from your wishlist over July’s Prime, and then aim to get another over the November Black Friday period. As for price tracking tools, Creative Blow has been using them for as long as I’ve worked here, so we can give you a full price context of the product.
Follow these tips, and our suggestions, and there’s no reason you can't make the most of both this year’s Prime Day and November's Black Friday.
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