Amazon Prime Day arrives earlier this year. Here's why Wall Street is watching closely

Amazon 's four-day Prime Day event this week could reveal something more important for the e-commerce giant than just a big sales number. Wall Street will be watching to see if Amazon can further cement itself as consumers' to-go destination for everyday essentials at a time when inflation-weary shoppers are focused on value. Prime Day kicks off at 12:01 a.m. PT on Tuesday (or 3:01 a.m. ET) and runs through June 26 at 11:59 p.m. PT on Friday (or 2:59 a.m. ET on Saturday). In addition to tons of deals across more than 35 categories, Amazon is putting an extra incentive on its underpenetrated grocery category — offering an additional 10% off sale items for Prime members. During the online shopping event, media and commerce research firm Emarketer estimates that Amazon's U.S. Prime Day sales will rise 7.1% year over year to $15.6 billion. That number would account for more than 60% of all the retail sales in the United States for those four days. Not to be outdone, Walmart , Target , Best Buy , and other retailers are launching competing promotions. This is the second year of the four-day Prime Day format. The event started as a single day in 2015, moved to two days in 2019, and went to four days in 2025. It has also been going earlier and earlier in recent years to capture more of the lull in summer shopping, for which the event was created in the first place. …