Amazon Prime Day is finally here and so is the online summer shopping frenzy. This year, big box retailers are stretching out their sales events alongside an extended version of Prime Day.

For the first time Amazon is hosting a four-day Prime summer event from July 8–11. Prime Day usually lasts two days—last year it ran from July 16–17. Walmart is also hosting its Walmart Deals sale for six days to July 13, instead of the usual four. Meanwhile, Target has not increased the number of days for Circle Week scheduled from July 6 through July 12, but it will overlap with Prime Day like it has in years past. Kohl’s is also running its summer deals from July 7 to July 10 in direct competition with Prime Day.

Retail analysts who spoke with Retail Brew said for retailers the goal is simple: beat last year by putting more stuff on sale for longer periods or slash prices even deeper. The focus is also on communicating value beyond price to attract and retain customers. However, they warned that stretching summer sales might water down holiday shopping. Put together, the impact of Prime Day has led to an increase in the number of retailers holding their own specials.

Keep reading here.—VC

Online shoppers stocked up on summer party supplies in June, according to the latest Shopify data shared first with Retail Brew, with items such as picnic blankets and grill equipment seeing big monthly gains.

In the e-commerce platform’s monthly breakdown, “stars, stripes, and savory delights” saw the biggest sales increases. Here’s a list of some popular purchases:

• Pie and pastry fillings +284%
• Vegetable dip +200%
• Picnic blankets +198%
• Food storage containers +167%
• Outdoor grill toppers +109%
• Grill presses +47%
• Cookie decorating kits +42%
• Pie crusts +22%

In addition to party supplies, shoppers favored backyard-ready sports equipment such as paddle ball sets (up 904% month over month), and bocce ball sets (377%).

Keep reading here.—AV

Café Dior in Chengdu. Carhartt Coffee in London. Santander Work Café in Brooklyn.

Around the world, brands ranging from luxury fashion houses to workwear to banks are opening up coffee shops.

The phenomenon of retailers hosting coffee shops isn’t exactly new, as anyone who’s ever been to a Starbucks inside of a Target can tell you. But the number of brand-owned and -operated coffee shops seems to be creeping up. Ralph’s Coffee, owned by Ralph Lauren, opened in Manhattan in 2014, and is now neighbored by the Blue Box Café at Tiffany & Co., a Capital One Café, and a Uniqlo Coffee around its Fifth Avenue location. (And that’s not even including the brand restaurants.)

Keep reading here on Marketing Brew.—KH

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