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Amazon Prime Day Deals Are Almost Here. Should You Take Advantage Of Them?

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4 months ago

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Amazon | AP news Image

NEW YORK — It’s summer, and the deals appear easy at an era when many consumer costs are high.

Since Amazon’s inaugural Prime Day in 2015, July sales events have emerged as a seasonal revenue generator for the retailer. While customers may be lured by claimed can’t-miss bargains on some products, personal finance experts warn against falling for possibly misleading marketing or succumbing to impulse purchases.

Amazon has raised anticipation in recent weeks for its tenth Prime Day event, which will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. This event is only open to consumers who pay $14.99 per month or $139 per year to enjoy free shipping and other benefits as Prime members.

Rival merchants have previously attempted to capitalize on the Prime Day frenzy by providing deals over two days. This year, Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, and newcomers TikTok Shop and Temu launched summer sales ahead of Amazon, seeking to steal some of the e-commerce giant’s bargain-hunting customers. Meanwhile, Macy’s will launch its “best summer deals” during an eight-day discount campaign starting on Tuesday.

Amazon Prime Day Deals Are Almost Here. Should You Take Advantage Of Them?

Why are companies offering such large summer discounts?
July sales help merchants attract customers who want to jump on back-to-school shopping, the industry’s second-most crucial shopping season after the winter holiday. The markdowns also attract discretionary spending from buyers eyeing technology, household products, and seasonal items like a bikini or a new summer dress.

According to Coresight Research’s head of global research, John Mercer, discounts can help shops battle “a summer lull in retail spending” as consumers transfer their spending to summer holidays and services, such as dining out.

“It drives a bit of excitement in that mid-year period,” when shops might otherwise struggle to generate additional money, Mercer said. He said that businesses have also used discounts to stimulate consumer spending throughout the recent time of high inflation and interest rates.

Amazon does not disclose how much revenue it generates from Prime Day, but it does provide some clues of its performance. According to the firm, last year’s event was the “single largest sales day” in its history, with buyers purchasing over 375 million things.

According to Emarketer, Amazon’s global Prime Day sales will reach $12.5 billion by 2023. The company expects sales to increase by about 7% this year.

Are the offer prices truly bargains or something else?
It depends on whoever you ask.

Retailers overstate their promos to attract customers. However, the New York Times-owned product review website Wirecutter wrote this month that most of Amazon’s early discounts this year “stink.”

Kirthi Kalyanam, a Santa Clara University management professor preparing a book about Amazon, says Prime Day deals have historically been fantastic. According to Halyanam, the company was able to secure discounts from well-known brands like Apple and persuade third-party vendors to decrease their pricing by promising to feature them prominently on the Amandon website.

However, Prime Day discounts may be less relevant as shoppers acclimate to the ultra-cheap products supplied by Amazon competitors Shein and Temu, founded in China.

“Many of (the) deals may not be as competitive compared to Temu and Shien,” said Kalyanam.

At the same time, he stated that competing stores will most certainly look at Amazon’s prices and attempt to match them overnight. Last week, he reported that Best Buy discounted two products after Amazon announced some of its early bargains.

Numerator, a consumer research company, said that most of the approximately 5,000 Prime Day buyers it surveyed following last year’s event received product discounts of up to 40%. According to survey respondents, one-quarter of items were selling at a discount of 60% or more.

Some buying gurus have claimed that previous Prime discounts were smaller than they appeared.

What are some strategies for finding bargains and sticking to a budget?
If you’re on a tight budget, personal finance experts advise you to think twice before you buy.

“Avoid the false sense of urgency of manufactured holidays,” says Mark Elliot, chief customer officer at financial services startup LendingClub. “The idea that ‘The more you spend, the more you save’ — that’s just definitionally not true.”

According to Dan Egan, a vice president at Betterment, a financial advice and investing firm, buyers should compile a list of what they need before the deals begin so that they may make conscious purchases. He advises customers to avoid purchasing late at night or out of boredom.

“Once you have a list, it’s less likely you’ll get distracted by things you don’t need,” Egan told me. “If that list contains almost nothing, I would recommend deleting the (retailers’) apps from your phone for the next week or two. Or you’ll get a lot of notifications.”

He said any consumer who already has a credit card balance should be aware that the interest spent on that balance may cancel out any perceived savings from a summer sale purchase.

“A deal is not a deal if you have to pay interest on it,” according to Egan.

While it may make sense for shoppers to try out free or temporary memberships to qualify for the best deals during the summer sales, according to Erin Witte, the Consumer Federation of America’s director of consumer protection, those programs usually charge a fee to the customer’s credit card on file after a short period of time.

Amazon Prime Day Deals Are Almost Here. Should You Take Advantage Of Them?

“Set a calendar reminder to cancel if you don’t want to proceed with that subscription,” Witte told me. Think about it from the beginning. Remember that these corporations designed this product to make it simple to sign up but more difficult to cancel.”

Consumer Reports also provides some tips: Download Amazon’s app, sign up for invite-only discounts available to a few buyers, and get in the queue for limited-time specials that have already sold out.

Remember to browse around.
Filling up an online Amazon cart appeals to Prime members because they are paying for Prime Day specials. However, comparing costs from multiple websites before buying is always a good idea.

Unlike Prime Day, Walmart’s monthly discount event was available to anyone. However, the business sweetened the bargain for Walmart+ members by giving them early access.

Target only gave discounts to Target Circle members and utilized the weeklong event to promote a new membership program aimed at increasing sales and traffic.

TikTok Shop, the e-commerce arm of the famous video-sharing app, has made its summer sales event available to everyone. The event began on July 9 and continues till Wednesday.

SOURCE | AP

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Forced Sale Google Chrome Could Fetch $20 Billion

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11 hours ago

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2024-11-21

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Sale Google Chrome

Antitrust officials in the US could force the sale of Google’s Chrome browser for up to $20 billion, demonstrating the tremendous worth of the world’s most popular web browser.

Bloomberg Intelligence attributes Chrome’s projected worth to its more than 3 billion monthly active users. The US Department of Justice is preparing to request a federal judge order the browser’s separation from Google’s parent company, Alphabet.

Chrome’s worth comes from its overwhelming 61% market share and its crucial role in Google’s advertising ecosystem. User data enables businesses to better target adverts, and the browser also acts as an important distribution mechanism for Google’s AI technologies.

Industry analysts think it may be difficult to find a suitable buyer. While tech behemoths like Amazon could finance the purchase, they would likely face regulatory scrutiny.

AI businesses, such as OpenAI, may emerge as more viable contenders. They could potentially leverage Chrome to broaden their reach and develop an advertising business.

“It’s not directly monetizable,” one analyst told Bloomberg. “It functions as a gateway to other things. It’s unclear how you would assess that in terms of pure revenue generation.”

Google opposes prospective sales, claiming that they will hamper innovation. The firm does not break out Chrome’s revenue individually in its financial filings, even though the browser’s user data plays an important part in the company’s principal revenue stream, advertising.

The DOJ’s suggestion follows Judge Amit Mehta’s August decision that Google had illegally monopolized the search industry. The judge will consider the recommended remedies at a two-week hearing in April 2024, with a final judgment due in August 2025.

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Bitcoin Has Set a New Record And Is Approaching $100,000.

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20 hours ago

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2024-11-21

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Bitcoin

(VOR News) – Bitcoin broke beyond the $98,000 mark for the first time on Thursday as investors awaited Donald Trump’s second term as president. All of this happened during the day. As such, cryptocurrency has reached a significant turning point.

According to Coin Metrics, the top cryptocurrency was trading at $97,541.61 during the most recent trading session. Merchants provided this information. This suggests a price gain of more than three percent during the previous trading session.

When the period began, Bitcoin peaked at $98,367.00.

During the premarket trading session, MicroStrategy, a platform that facilitates cryptocurrency foreign exchange trading and serves as a bitcoin proxy, saw a 13% gain. Coinbase, on the other hand, had a 2% rise during that period. Furthermore, all of these increases occurred simultaneously.

The market value of Mara Holdings increased by 9%, which helped raise the valuation of mining companies overall. This was among the factors that led to the total rise.

Because of the widespread belief that President Trump will usher in a new era of prosperity for cryptocurrencies, one marked by more favorable laws and the possible creation of a national strategic bitcoin reserve, the price of Bitcoin has been rising steadily this month.

The most recent change brought about by the increase was the consequence of higher financing rates and more open interest in the futures market during Asian trading hours. The rise was the catalyst for this change. This action was prompted by the ensuing rush.

Throughout its lifespan, this legislation was the catalyst for this change for a variety of reasons. At the same time, spot market premiums decreased, according to CryptoQuant statistics. All of this happened at the same time.

Furthermore, a number of short liquidations have been sparked by the recent spikes in Bitcoin’s price, which has caused the price to rise overnight. As a result, the price has gone up much more. As a result, the total number of short liquidations has increased.

According to CoinGlass, these liquidations have effectively produced more than $88 million in capital during the last 24 hours.

Rob Ginsberg, an analyst at Wolfe Research, noted in a study released on Wednesday that “historically, following previous movements of this magnitude, Bitcoin has either entered a consolidation phase or disregarded the overbought condition as investors accumulate.” This phrase relates to the fact that this particular move has happened before.

Ginsberg stated this in reference to the evolution of Bitcoin over time.

Ginsberg’s answer makes reference to Bitcoin’s propensity to go through a period of consolidation. The comment also made reference to this.

He said, “Considering we are emerging from an extended consolidation phase and the price has reached a new high, it suggests that the pursuit is underway.”

The crucial psychological milestone of $100,000 is expected to be reached in the upcoming weeks, and this breakthrough could happen as early as Thursday. It seems likely that this level will be reached. There is a chance that this new development will take place.

This task will be carried out against the backdrop of this historical era. In addition, if Trump were to win a second term, federal budget deficits would increase, inflation would likely increase, and the dollar’s position in international affairs would change.

The administration that Trump would run during his presidency would be responsible for these consequences. All of these characteristics would positively impact the value of Bitcoin as a currency if they were taken into account in the order that they are presented.

The price of bitcoin had risen by more than 130% by the beginning of 2024.

SOUREC: CNBC

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Target Struggles in the Third Quarter: Offers Tempered Holiday Outlook and Price Cuts

Published

2 days ago

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2024-11-20

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Target

(VOR News) – Target experienced a modest rise in sales during the third quarter; nevertheless, profitability declined due to reduced customer spending attributed to inflation and adverse effects from the ongoing costs associated with the October dockworker strike.

Despite ongoing consumer expenditure in the United States, but with more prudence, the Minneapolis retailer did not meet Wall Street’s forecasts for the quarter and similarly disappointed industry analysts with its projections for the final quarter of the year.

Target’s reduction in prices for Christmas products, including a Thanksgiving promotion that lowered the cost of the holiday feast relative to last year’s total, raises concerns about disappointing quarterly results.

Target’s latest quarter sharply contrasts with competitor Walmart, which reported another quarter of exceptional revenues on Tuesday and provided positive forecasts for the forthcoming holiday season. Amazon disclosed last month that its quarterly profits had risen. Amazon surpassed projections with an 11% rise in quarterly revenue.

Target fell over 21% on Wednesday morning.

Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell stated, “We encountered distinct challenges and financial constraints that impacted our overall performance.”

FactSet reports that Target’s net income for the quarter ended November 2 was $854 million, or $1.85 per share, markedly below the anticipated $2.30 and a decline from $971 million, or $2.10 per share, in the same quarter of the previous year.

Despite an increase in sales to $25.67 billion from $25.4 billion the previous year, they fell short of Wall Street’s projections.

Target announced that for the fiscal fourth quarter, it anticipates earnings per share to fall between $1.85 to $2.45. This amount is below the $2.65 per share forecast by analysts surveyed by FactSet.

The retailer announced that in the third quarter, its comparable sales, derived from stores and digital platforms operational for a minimum of one year, increased by 0.3%.

This is inferior to the second quarter’s 2% growth. Several months of decreases, comprising a 3.7% reduction in the first quarter and a 4.4% reduction in the company’s final quarter of 2023, were counterbalanced by the rise in the April–June period.

Cosmetics sales rose by almost 6%, whilst food, beverages, and necessities such as shampoo experienced gains in the low single digits relative to the previous year.

The positive attributes were negligible. Target’s quarterly customer traffic rose by 2.4%. Target officials report that this represents an increase of 10 million sales transactions compared to the previous year. Digital comparable sales rose by 10.8% due to a 20% enhancement in same-day delivery facilitated by the Target Circle loyalty program and double-digit growth in its drive-up service.

Target encountered several challenges.

Target’s food and beverage sales constitute under 25% of overall sales, indicating a greater dependence on luxury items such as apparel and accessories.

Target management acknowledged that the company, similar to other retailers, had to redirect specific items due to the strike of 45,000 dockworkers, the first occurrence since 1977.

The accumulation of commodities in warehouses escalated operational expenses and diminished corporate earnings.

The commitment by President-elect Donald Trump to impose elevated import tariffs is resulting in difficulties for Target and other enterprises. Trump advocates for a 60% tariff on Chinese imports and a 20% levy on all other products. Cornell stated that, despite monitoring trends meticulously, the corporation has prioritized diversifying its supplier network.

“Currently, there exists considerable uncertainty regarding future developments, and we will exercise our flexibility to adapt as necessary,” he stated on the call.

Buyers remain apprehensive due to ongoing uncertainty, as prices, albeit decreasing, remain elevated compared to a few years prior.

“They are exhibiting significant patience, pursuing promotions and outstanding value on essential pantry items,” Cornell stated during a conference call with reporters. “Over the year, they have consistently focused on discretionary categories and are practicing prudent shopping behaviors.”

Target officials indicated a decline in television purchases, although they expressed interest in incorporating candles, frames, and flowers into their home décor.

Target has been reducing prices to boost sales. Last spring, it reduced costs for numerous essentials, including milk and diapers. Almost fifty percent of the numerous goods offered this Christmas are priced below $20. Target is offering a Thanksgiving dinner bundle for four people at $20, which is $5 less than its 2023 Thanksgiving meal package.

SOURCE: USN

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