Will Target and Walmart Outdo Amazon on Prime Day?

Target and Walmart want to use their store networks and omnichannel capabilities to outdo Amazon.com in the same week it holds its two-day Prime Day sales event.

The two retailers yesterday announced competing July sales events with big discounts on popular products.

Target Circle Week will run July 9 through 15 with up to 50 percent savings across the retailer’s popular private label lines and national brands. The special savings are exclusive to Target Circle members, the retailer’s free loyalty program, who can shop in its stores, online and through its app. Circle members can get digital orders through the chain’s popular free same-day Order Pickup and Drive Up services or same-day delivery through Target’s Shipt service.

The retailer is looking to make it easy for all its guests (Target for customers) to get in on the deals. Non-members can quickly join the Circle program for free at www.target.com/circle.

Circle members receive one percent earnings rewards on non-RedCard purchases to use on future shopping trips and get five percent off during their birthday month. Those members paying with the retailer’s RedCard get five percent off purchases. Members also receive votes that they can use to direct the retailer’s charitable giving.

“Target Circle Week is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to our guests,” Cara Sylvester, executive vice president and chief guest experience officer, Target, said in a statement. “Guests have saved millions of dollars during previous Target Circle Weeks, and this summer they’ll have yet another opportunity to celebrate that only-at-Target feeling of affordable joy as they stock up on essentials, discover new favorites and shop online, in-store or with our industry-leading same-day services.”

The Walmart+ Week promotion will kick off at midnight ET on July 10 and run through July 13. Subscribers who pay $98 a year will “get first dibs on summer’s hottest must-have items on Walmart.com, including exclusive deals and limited-time offers” before the gates swing open for all of Walmart’s customers on July 11, according to an email sent to media outlets. The sale will conclude at 7 PM ET on July 13.

Walmart+ members will get access to exclusive limited-time deals through the retailer, including:

• Buy one, get one tickets to all Six Flags parks;
• Six months of Panera Bread’s unlimited SipClub for $5 a month plus tax and a monthly $5 MyPanera reward;
• A $30 credit towards pet-sitting and dog-walking services at Rover;
• Thirty percent off SpaFinder gift certificates.

Amazon charges $139 a year for membership in its Prime program. Prime Day will run on July 11 and 12.