Amazon will celebrate its 20th birthday tomorrow like a sorority girl with its very own made-up holiday: Prime Day. The online retail behemoth has vowed to give consumers more awesome deals and sales than Black Friday, and that’s obviously great because instead of worrying about being trampled over a $100 off-brand TV, shoppers can simply be rude to each other online, just as Al Gore intended. Even better, consumers have the opportunity to try a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, and small-time retailers should just go ahead and close up shop now. It’s Amazon’s world, and Skynet’s revolution will launch in Jeff Bezos’ office.
Not so fast, though, says an old man greeting you inside a Walmart. The retail chain is fighting back against the domination of online shopping by launching its own huge sale… online. Shoppers can take advantage of more than 2,000 “rollback” deals on Walmart’s website, as well as reduced requirements for free shipping. For more on the best way to buy cheap crap, Tom Storey and Briana Lane weigh in on today’s episode of The Desk.
(Via USA Today and Harvard Business Review)