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Prime Day 2016: What Amazon shoppers need to know

Prime Day begins at midnight Pacific time on July 12, and Amazon says it will be its 'biggest event ever. The event is for Amazon Prime members, but nonmembers can gain entry by signing up for a free 30-day trial of Prime.

In July 2015, Amazon set out to start a phenomenon when it聽created its own shopping holiday: Prime Day.

The company promised that Prime Day would dish out more deals than Black Friday, and the event set social media ablaze. It also skyrocketed Amazon鈥檚 worldwide order growth 266% over the same day in 2014.听And on July 12, it鈥檚 coming back for round two.

We鈥檙e recapping last year and helping you make a game plan for Prime Day 2016.

A look back at Prime Day 2015

Amazon鈥檚 Prime Day launched at 12:01 a.m. Pacific time on July 15, 2015, firing off time-sensitive deals 鈥� called 鈥渓ightning deals鈥� 鈥� as often as every 10 minutes. These were combined with one-day-only 鈥渄eals of the day.鈥� And customers were given聽unlimited, free two-day shipping.

翱苍濒测听聽members聽鈥� who buy a subscription for聽$99 a year 鈥� had access to the event, but nonmembers could gain entry by signing up for a free 30-day trial of Prime.

The sale involved electronics and computers, toys, kid and baby items, movies, music, video games, clothing, jewelry and watches, home goods and more.

There were some standout savings. Bose SoundTrue on-ear headphones聽in white cost $79.99 (regularly $149.95). A 32-inch TV cost $75. Select Philips headphones were $50 off. And prices on some clothing and jewelry were slashed by 30%.

But for all the good, Prime Day is perhaps remembered most for the downright odd. Shoppers took to Twitter with the hashtag #PrimeDayFail, and news outlets, including聽,聽quickly assembled roundups of the weirdest deals. Contenders included聽a rub that promotes beard growth, a five-pound bag of red hot candies and a giant shoehorn 鈥� not exactly coveted deals.

厂迟颈濒濒,听聽that it sold 34.4 million items across Prime-eligible countries during the event, 398 items per second. Prime Day broke all of the company鈥檚 prior Black Friday records.

Popular items聽included: televisions (47,000 sold on Prime Day), Bose headphones (41,000 sold) and iRobot Roomba 595 vacuum cleaning robots (14,000 sold).

A look ahead to Prime Day 2016

This year, Prime Day begins at midnight Pacific time on July 12, and Amazon says it聽will be its聽鈥渂iggest event ever.鈥�

During the 24-hour period, there will be more than 100,000 deals available worldwide from across the retailer鈥檚 40 product categories. New sales will start as frequently as every five minutes.听And Amazon spokeswoman Julie Law says, 鈥淚 can tell you that we are striving to have our lowest prices of the year.鈥�

Amazon鈥檚 criteria for a great Prime Day聽includes three elements, according to Law: offering brand-name products at deep discounts,聽having enough聽products readily available for each deal, and making the site easy to navigate and filter by deal type.

And while Black Friday discounts generally target聽gift-centric items, Law says Prime Day will cut prices on聽products shoppers want to聽buy now: back-to-school items, summer entertainment products, swimwear, outdoor furniture, laptops and cameras, to name a few.

TVs and toys will be major players. Amazon will stock twice as many TVs as it did聽on Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. And it鈥檚聽striving to have a聽toy deal available at all times during the 24 hours, according to Law.

Anxious deal seekers can bookmark聽聽and聽the sale鈥檚聽.

But what about the beard growth rub and other odd items from聽last year?

鈥淚 say we sort of embrace the weird and the wonderful,鈥� Law offers.听鈥淲hen you hear Black Friday, you think TVs. And when you come to the site, and you see 40 categories of products, I understand that people may have been surprised.鈥�

Not every deal will be for everyone, but hopefully聽everyone can find something to聽be excited about purchasing, Law says.

Prime Day will be limited to Amazon Prime members again this year. If you already pay for a membership, poking around the sale is a no-brainer. If you don鈥檛 belong to Prime, consider signing up for a free 30-day trial before the sale starts. But be careful: You鈥檒l be automatically charged for a year of Prime ($99) if you don鈥檛 cancel on time.

We don鈥檛 think you should sit out Prime Day. But before you get in the game, develop聽a strategy. Here鈥檚 how:

• Buy because you need it, not because it鈥檚 on sale.听Sales encourage consumers to shop. Remember those 14,000 iRobot vacuum cleaners that shoppers scooped up on Prime Day? Amazon sold only one the Wednesday prior to the sale. That鈥檚 right, just one. Sure, the sale price was a large factor, but we venture the hype was, too.听Don鈥檛 take it too seriously and walk away with more shoehorns than you need (if you need one at all, that is).
• Be realistic.听The sale won鈥檛 cover everything in the store or everything you want. Be prepared to sift through lesser deals in search of the handful of blockbuster discounts.
• Set reminders.听Prospective buyers can ask to receive reminders when certain deals begin with the free Amazon mobile app. You鈥檒l聽have 15 minutes from the time you put a聽聽鈥� a limited-time, limited-quantity offering 鈥� in your cart to claim it, Law says. Follow through with your order to guarantee you get your item before it鈥檚 100% claimed.

We鈥檒l be keeping a close eye on Amazon Prime Day, so keep checking back for the best and, yes, the worst deals as they happen.

Courtney Jespersen is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email:聽courtney@nerdwallet.com.听罢飞颈迟迟别谤:听.

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