But the origins of this sales juggernaut trace back to a single executive’s vision and a pivotal pitch to Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos.
After obtaining Bezos’s blessing, Amazon executives reportedly went back and forth on when to hold their event. But according to Stone’s book, Amazon leadership eventually opted not to go toe-to-toe with Alibaba’s Singles Day, which is held in November, and instead decided on having their own sale during the summer months, a traditionally slower time in retail. The logic there was customers would have enough money during the summer months since they weren’t doing all of their holiday shopping just yet, and that also meant there would be ample warehouse space.
Amazon Prime Day got the green light in January 2015, with the goal of launching on July 15 to coincide with Amazon’s 20th anniversary.
Amazon Prime Day has only grown since then. In its second year, Prime Day sales jumped by 60%. By 2019, Amazon expanded the event to be two days, and in 2025, the event now spans four days. It kicked off on Tuesday, July 8, and runs until Friday, July 11—a full 96 hours to take advantage of deals.
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.