Amazon officially confirms it will hold a 2nd 'Prime Day' sales event in October

• Amazon announced it's holding a new sales event called the "Prime Early Access Sale" in October.
• Amazon has historically had a big sales event for its prime subscribers in July.

Amazon is doubling up its usual "Prime Day" sales bonanza by hosting another sales event for its Prime subscription members in October, the retail giant announced in a press release Monday.

The sales event, which will run through October 11 and 12, will be called the "Prime Early Access Sale" and feature a list of 100 "popular and giftable items" per Amazon's press release.

Insider's Katherine Long reported in July that Amazon was planning an October deals event after viewing internal company documents describing the event, but confirmation only arrived Monday,

The documents reported by Insider called the Early Access Sale a "high velocity" sales event designed to reward people who are signed up to Amazon's subscription service, Amazon Prime.

Amazon is already famous for Prime Day, which takes place in July. The October timing of the Early Access Sale means Amazon will be throwing the sales event right before it heads into its busy holiday season, known internally as "peak."

Amazon increased the annual price of its Prime membership in February by $20 in the US, and announced in July it was raising prices in several European countries by as much as 43%.

Amazon did not immediately respond when contacted by Insider about why it had decided to introduce another sales day.

The e-commerce giant experienced a huge surge in demand at the onset of the pandemic, which caused the company to buy up warehouse space that now exceeds its needs, chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky told reporters in April.