Amazon Prime Day Australia: Early deals now available

Amazon's Prime Day launched in overseas markets a few years ago and very quickly became one of the most popular mid-year sales in those territories. And although the online retailer took its time to launch Down Under, Amazon is now set to host Australia's first ever Prime Day.

• Jump to Amazon's Prime Day homepage Australia | UK | US

The highly anticipated shopping event will kick off at 12pm AEST on July 16 and continue for 36 hours, ending at midnight on July 17. This will make Australia the first country to start Prime Day this year, with the event rolling out around the world across different countries and timezones, including in the US, the UK, India and Singapore.

For those who haven't heard of the sales event, Prime Day is essentially Amazon’s mid-year take on Black Friday – it's a 36-hour bonanza of deals on thousands of products, but the catch is that it's only available to Amazon account-holders who've signed up for the online retailer's special Prime membership. 

In markets where Prime Day is well established, the 2017 event made it the biggest sales day in Amazon’s history, raking in more traffic than Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and busier than any previous Prime Day the company has hosted. No wonder Amazon boss Jeff Bezos is one of the richest men in the world today.

What is Amazon Prime Day?

Prime Day is Amazon’s members-only sale held once a year, historically in July. To make the most of Prime Day you’ll need to get yourself an Amazon Prime membership. In Australia, it costs $6.99 a month, or $59 a year. 

While Prime Video has been available in Australia since 2016, Prime Shipping – a key part of Amazon's member-only service that provides fast and free shipping on many products – has only just launched. Like in other markets, it comes bundled as part of that Prime subscription service, meaning that superfast free delivery and access to streaming services, e-books and exclusive deals is now on the table for Aussies as part of one service.

When is Australia's first Prime Day?

While Amazon’s launch Down Under wasn’t exactly the big event many consumers were hoping for, the online marketplace is slowing increasing its inventory and offering great deals to its customers.

Amazon Prime was introduced Down Under on June 19, giving Aussies the opportunity to try out the service before prepping for Prime Day. Historically, Amazon hosts Prime Day on the second Tuesday of July, but this year the company has deviated from the norm and has announced a 36-hour Prime Day (and a half) beginning at noon on July 16.

That's six hours longer than Prime Day was in 2017, which lasted 30 hours. In the US and the UK, it was unleashed at 9pm local time on July 10 and continued on till 3am on July 12, making it the biggest Prime Days yet.

What to expect from Amazon Prime Day

While there’ll be plenty of big-brand discounts to choose from on Prime Day, you can be sure that Amazon will lead with its own devices, especially its Echo smart speakers – including its latest Echo Spot speaker – and Kindle e-readers. Perhaps we can expect to see the Fire TV Stick to be discounted for the first time as well.

Gaming consoles, especially the Nintendo Switch, are already being discounted on Amazon Australia. We could see even better value for money on the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles when Prime Day rolls around, and it's likely other gaming products including accessories and games themselves will be on sale as well. Whether game bundles will be on offer is still up in the air, however.

Philips Hue bulbs have also seen offers go up on Amazon Australia, which is the only retailer we've seen to offer any kind of meaningful discounts on the hugely popular smart lighting system. This could be a precursor for a great offer on not just the individual bulbs but also the starter kits come Prime Day.

You could also find some budget laptops and great headphones for less on Prime Day, and that’s only just a taste of what could be on offer.

Prime Day Australia early deals

While Prime Day doesn't kick off for another few days, Amazon Australia already has some amazing offers going, tickling your shopping buds to get you primed for D Day.

These are the early Prime Day deals on offer:

• While you wait for Prime Day to be launched in Australia, don’t miss out on the best Amazon Australia deals on offer.
• Looking for more tech bargains all year round? Bookmark our best Australian tech deals to keep up with the biggest bargains each week.
• Not in Australia? Check out our Amazon Prime Day hubs for the USA and UK