Amazon just confirmed Prime Day will happen earlier in the summer this year

• Amazon confirmed that Prime Day will take place this summer, after being delayed last year.
• Earlier this month the company said there are now more than 200 million paid Prime members worldwide.
• Some estimates from last year put the sales from the annual deal event at close to $10 billion.

The annual Prime Day mega deals event will be returning to a summertime slot this year, after being pushed back to October last year due to the pandemic.

The return should give a boost to second-quarter sales, which are expected to be between $110 billion and $116 billion.

Amazon said during the company's first-quarter earnings call that it planned to test holding Prime Day in the early summer this year, as it believed moving up the deals event could benefit customers for a variety of reasons, including the fact that July is a big travel month.

Last year's Prime Day was estimated to bring in nearly $10 billion for the once-yearly deal event. The company doesn't provide precise figures, but an Amazon spokesperson told Insider that 2020's Prime Day was the company's biggest sales day ever.

The event in recent years has been extended beyond a single day to encompass 48 hours of deals.

Earlier this month, Amazon topped 200 million Prime subscribers, up from 150 million at the start of 2020.

Past reports have said Amazon planned to hold Prime Day in June this year, though a specific date has yet to be confirmed. Amazon said more details about the specific dates for Prime Day will be announced later this quarter.