Amazon Prime Day 2021 will take place on June 21 and 22

Mark your calendars: Prime Day 2021 will take place on June 21 and 22.

Amazon has locked in the dates of its ‘Black Friday in summer’ shopping event, Bloombergreports. The online retail giant has not made a formal announcement about the dates yet, but in an 8-K filing with the SEC earlier this year it said the event would take place sometime before the end of the second quarter.

Prime Day has been a fixture for the retailer since 2015. Last year’s event saw sales for small and medium business partners set records. Shoppers spent more than $3.5 billion on goods from those companies, a 60% increase over 2019. And sales of the company’s Echo Dot “smart” speaker led all other products.

Prime Day 2020 was held in October. The day of deals was effectively a test-run for Black Friday, which also takes place in the fall.

While Prime Day has become a significant ‘holiday’ for bargain hunters, six years ago it was seen as a gamble. Shoppers then largely put buying on hold as they enjoyed the summer days and took vacations. Today, competitors schedule their own promotions and deep discount sales to compete with Prime Day.

The savings can be significant though. A price comparison study by BestBlackFriday.com shows that Prime Day is the best time to buy Amazon devices, as well as small electronics, small kitchen appliances and clothing. TV sets, laptops and gaming consoles tend to be better priced in the Black Friday period.