Prime Day Isn’t a Day Anymore

Amazon quietly stretched Prime Day from two days to four. Next stop? Prime Week. 

More days, more deals, bigger numbers.

But the story isn’t just in the length—it’s in how those extra days reshaped the buying cycle.

The Four-Day Buying Cycle

• Day 1: The rush. Customers jump in, fueled by hype and FOMO.

• Day 2: The lull. “I’ll buy tomorrow.” Spoiler: they won’t.

• Day 3: Cart clutter. Items sit. Shoppers wait. 

• Day 4: Panic buying. “Last chance” triggers a final surge.

This cycle is engineered. Amazon doesn’t stumble into strategy. They test at scale and adapt when it works.

What It Means for Brands

• Inventory planning gets harder. Sell out on Day 1, and you’re done. But Prime Day is now four days long. You need enough stock to last the whole event without overstocking and paying the price later.

• Promotions need discipline. Blow your budget early, and you’re invisible by Day 4.

• Competitors smell blood. Other retailers are piggybacking. Target, Walmart, even small DTC brands launch their own “not-Prime Day” promos.

Prime Day isn’t a sprint anymore, it’s an ultramarathon. If your strategy can’t flex across the whole window, you’re not in the race. You’re roadkill.

Want the full breakdown? Catch the replay of the From East to West AMA where Brett Bohannon and Michael Maher dig into new Amazon features here.