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You might think that Amazon is the only place to shop online on Prime Day 2020, but in recent years retailers such as Walmart and Target have offered some stiff competition with deals that rival Amazon’s.
Amazon’s biggest annual sale, Prime Day 2020, is going on Oct. 13 and 14. It’s the second year in a row that Prime Day will run for two days instead of just one. As in years past, the shopping holiday will feature flash sales and markdowns on everything from vacuums to video games. But contrary to years past, Prime Day 2020 won’t take place in July — the pandemic pushed the sale back.
This time around, Target is once again offering Target Deal Days on Oct. 13 and 14 —the same two days as Prime Day. But there’s no membership fee to shop Target’s deals, though you have to be an Amazon Prime member to shop Amazon’s Prime Day deals.
During Target’s Deal Days, you’ll get free two-day shipping on items over $35 — a price point that isn’t hard to hit if you’re buying your usual Prime Day hot items such as the Instant Pot, a Dyson vacuum or the Revlon One-Step.
Target announced its competitive Prime Day sale would include “hundreds of thousands of deep discounts” on things such as electronics, household essentials and beauty products, making it a good Prime Day alternative for folks who want to spend their cash somewhere other than Amazon.
“Target's Deal Days is a good Prime Day alternative for folks who want to spend their cash somewhere other than Amazon.”
Perhaps the most interesting news about this year’s Target Deal Days is that you won’t have to worry about missing a limited-time markdown. For the first time ever, all of Target’s deals will live for the entire two-day sales event.
What deals are better at Target than Amazon on Prime Day?
On Amazon, our shopping editors expect to see deals and discounts similar to what we saw last year, including on popular products such as the Ninja Foodi and Instant Pot.
More important, if you’re not a fan of flash sales, you might turn to Target instead of Amazon on Prime Day. There are even a few deals that you’re probably better off buying from Target than Amazon, but you don’t have to take it from us. We spoke with retail experts about what’s worth buying at Target vs. Amazon on Prime Day.
Before you buy, you should probably know what’s worth waiting until Black Friday to buy rather than buying now during all of the competitive Prime Day sales going on.
Julie Ramhold, a consumer analyst at DealNews.com, recommends waiting on your laptop, TV, new Amazon device and smartphone purchases until Black Friday in November. Tech and gadgets will for the most part have cheaper pricing on Black Friday than on Prime Day.
There are four categories you should buy at Target instead of Amazon this year, she added: Halloween items, beauty products, toys and previous-generation Amazon devices.
“Target already has a price match guarantee that includes Amazon as one of its approved competitors. While we expect Target to just offer up prices similar — or exact — to what Amazon has on certain items, even if they don’t, there’s a chance you could receive a price adjustment after the fact,” Ramhold said.
How will Target compete with Amazon on Prime Day? Target will push its free loyalty program (called Target Circle), which will feature select offers early before they sell out and same-day pickup options (using Shipt), according to Ramhold.
We picked out some of the best deals that Deal Days will have on offer below so you don’t have to keep switching back and forth between Target and Amazon on Prime Day.