Target is taking a page from Amazon's book and launching its Deal Days sales on October 13 and 14
- Target's Deal Days will occur on October 13 and 14 this year.
- The second-ever Deal Days event will once again coincide with Amazon's Prime Day.
- "The two-day event will feature digital deals on hundreds of thousands of items, more than double last year," a Target spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement.
Target's Deal Days event will take place on October 13 and 14 this year, alongside Amazon's two-day Prime Day sales.
"The two-day event will feature digital deals on hundreds of thousands of items, more than double last year," a Target spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement.
Target's Deal Days are a relatively new phenomenon. The sales event debuted in July of 2019, touted by the retailer as a "no membership required" summer sale. Last year's Target Deal Days also took place on July 15 and 16, the same dates as Amazon's Prime Day.
Target's decision to once again link its Deal Days to Amazon's Prime event depicts the Seattle-based online retailer's influence over the yearly retail calendar. But the move is just the latest Target has made regarding its e-commerce strategy during the coronavirus pandemic.
The company is also slated to hire 130,000 seasonal workers for the holidays this year, with many of those roles focused on e-commerce fulfillment. CEO Brian Cornell told CNBC that twice as many seasonal hires will be tasked with fulfillment center roles or in-store tasks like fulfilling curbside and in-store pickup orders during the 2020 holiday season.
Target and Amazon aren't alone in their push to launch major sales events in the middle of October. A group of retail stakeholders, including Coresight Research and rewards app Shopkick, also plan to launch a "10.10" shopping festival on October 10 to spur consumer spending.
With major retailers hosting major sales events in mid-October, the fate of Black Friday 2020 — the sales event that traditionally rings in the holiday season — remains unclear. A spate of October and season-wide sales may further drain sales from the traditional shopping day.