Amazon Plans ‘Invitation Only’ Sale Starting June 22

Amazon will hold a “summer sale” on June 22 in order to hopefully help the economy get moving, CNBC reports.

In a notice sent to sellers on Tuesday (June 2), Amazon called the sale a ‘Fashion Summer Sales Event’ and said it would be invitation-only, according to documents seen by CNBC. The working title, though not final yet, is “Biggest Sale in the Sky.”

The sale could run between seven and 10 days long.

“We are having the Biggest Summer Sale event to drive excitement and jump-start sales,” the notice states. “To drive customer engagement, we are asking for your participation.”

The company was asking sellers to submit deals with discounts of at least 30 percent on items by the end of the day Wednesday (June 3), according to CNBC.

Amazon usually hosts Prime Day, its deal for summertime sales, in mid-July, but the company’s warehouses are still struggling with the impact of the coronavirus, which has increased online sales in vast amounts. Instead, that event is likely to be postponed until September.

The pandemic shifted Amazon’s shipping patterns, prioritizing items like hand sanitizer and toilet paper in March while the virus was first reaching America’s shores. Because of that, inventory began to build up in warehouses. Amazon is hoping its excess build-up can be siphoned off in its upcoming sales events.

After the prioritizing of essential items like masks and other medical equipment eased off in mid-May, Amazon’s shipments have started returning to normal. Sellers who sell other types of items, who may have felt jilted by the eCommerce giant’s priorities during the pandemic, could view both the summer sale and the delayed Prime Day as new opportunities, CNBC reports.

There wasn’t much information on the summer sale as of Tuesday (June 2), with little clarity on what items will be discounted or if non-Prime subscribers will be eligible.

Amazon, which saw a surge in new hiring needs at the same time as the U.S. unemployment rate skyrocketed, intends to keep 70 percent of the 175,000 new hires it made since mid-March.