NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast - Navigate Amazon Prime Day Like a Pro: Overcome Hype and Maximize Savings

Episode Date: July 17, 2024

Learn to navigate Amazon Prime Day deals, track prices, and avoid overspending with expert shopping strategies and tools. Are Amazon Prime Day deals truly worth it, or are they just savvy marketing tactics? Hosts Anna Helhoski and Sara Rathner explain how consumers can identify genuine bargains amidst the sea of discounts. NerdWallet writer Tommy Tindall joins them to discuss the evolution of Prime Day from its inception in 2015 to its current status as a major shopping event, shedding light on the difference between list prices and typical prices to help listeners make more informed purchasing decisions. They begin with a discussion of the significance of price tracking tools, offering tips and tricks on leveraging CamelCamelCamel and Keepa, maintaining skepticism toward discounts, and understanding dynamic pricing patterns. In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: Amazon Prime Day, Prime Day deals, online shopping tips, genuine bargains, price tracking tools, Amazon marketing tactics, avoiding inflated discounts, making smarter buying decisions, online shopping pitfalls, Prime Day strategy, list prices vs typical prices, skepticism in online deals, price history tracking, dynamic pricing, Amazon price drops, Walmart sales, Target sales, cashback apps, Black Friday in July, Amazon competitors, Best Buy sales, overspending traps, necessary purchases, back-to-school deals, tech gadgets, Amazon devices, Echo deals, Kindle Fire deals, Apple product deals, electronics discounts, noise-canceling headphones, baby gear deals, toy discounts, Dyson vacuum sales, kitchen gadgets, and Amazon essentials. To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email [e-mail]. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend.

Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast. I'm Anna Helhosky. I'm Sarah Rathner. And this is our weekly money news roundup, where we break down the latest in the world of finance to help you be smarter with your money. Today, Sarah is filling in for Sean, and we are talking about Amazon Prime Day, otherwise known as Hot Weather Black Friday. Pretty much. Prime Day originally began in July 2015 as a one-day savings event to celebrate Amazon's 20th anniversary. Since then, it's become the online retail giant's two-day shopping extravaganza. There is one catch, though. Only those who fork over $14.99 per month

or $139 per year to become Prime members can take advantage of price drops on popular items from electronics to home decor and clothing. Now, we know that many people who shop online actually tend to purchase less than they would in a brick and mortar store. But when there are big sales online, people may be prone to overspend and regret it later. Anna and I were curious if Prime Day deals are as worthwhile as they seem. So today we're talking with Tommy Tindall, a writer here at NerdWallet who's covering Prime Day. Tommy, welcome back to Smart Money. Hi there.

Thanks for having me. All right, Tommy. Is Prime Day just really good marketing? I mean, after all, sellers offer deals all year round. How can you tell if a deal this week is actually worth it? Yeah. I mean, I think there's a lot of good marketing at play here. I mean, if you think about it over the last 10 years,

because you mentioned this is the 10th prime day, Amazon has essentially conditioned the public to associate midsummer with Black Friday like deals. It's not all hype. I think it's in Amazon's best interest to kind of really bring it and put a lot of deals out there. And there are always good buys. And over the last couple of years, my colleagues and I, we've done a shopping analysis where we track prices on a

handful of popular products during major sale days. And usually a good portion of those products hit low prices on Prime Day. But that said, I've been in there looking today, day one of Prime Day. And I mean, there's just like, there's more deals than I think anyone could ever sift through. And it's just a bit of a mixed bag. I've noticed my feed is highly personalized. And I'm not seeing much in my save to cart that's blowing me away. Maybe I'm getting deal sensitized, if I can make a word up here. So this is what I've wondered.

Are all the discounts actually real deals? And what I mean by that is I've heard that some sellers on Amazon jack up their prices before Prime Day. So the quote deals seem bigger than they actually are. Well, one thing I can say is pricing has become very dynamic. I think it's really important to approach online deals, especially with some skepticism, because the reality is, I'm sure we've all seen it, these prices, they fluctuate in patterns that are unpredictable to shoppers like us. Amazon knows what it's doing. But in products, what I see is there always some sort of discount being displayed.

So one thing to pay attention to that I recommend is look at whether the product is showing the list price, which is the suggested retail price, or the typical price, which is usually like an average of what the price has been over the last few months. And look at that in relation to the discount. So getting a discount off the typical price is likely the better deal. And you'll see this listed on Amazon. Another good way to protect yourself from possibly inflated deals is just to check the price history. I think this has probably become second nature for a lot of people. But if I'm buying anything over like 50 bucks, I try to check the price history on a site like Camel, Camel, Camel, just to get a feel for what really is a good price. How often does that come around? Keepa, that's another price tracking site that you can use for Amazon.

And if you'll indulge me, I have kind of an example here of this dynamic deal environment that we're in. So Walmart and Target, they had big sales a week before Prime Day. And Walmart discounted Apple's popular AirPods Pro, the latest model of those. We all know what those are, the ubiquitous earbuds that everybody has in their ears. And they discounted those down to $169, which is a pretty good price. They typically go for like $199 on Amazon, which is more typical, that typical price I mentioned. So I checked on Amazon and they had reduced the same model to 169, presumably to match Walmart. And this was a week before Prime Day. Then they went back to 189.99 a day before Prime Day.

And now they're at 168.99 today. So it's just so hard to predict. And you kind of want to just use alerts and technology to help you so you don't have to stew over it. So you mentioned Target and Walmart. Those are two big Amazon competitors. But a lot of other retailers time their sales for July. And it's not even just retailers. I'm looking at the cash pack app Rakuten on my phone right now. And they have 300 plus stores offering 10% cash back right now. It's called the big stack. Cute. So is this all just a way for all of these retailers and apps to compete with giant Amazon?

Good point. It seems like no industry or category is off limits. And Amazon has invented this sale period on the calendar, essentially. And other retailers want in on that action. And I get that. So Target and Walmart, we mentioned them. They took the strategy of trying to get out ahead of Prime Day, running their big deal events the week before. We're seeing others overlap. Best Buy, they're running a Black Friday in July sale this week. Even Macy's of all stores, they've got an event called All-Star Week, which is geared towards members. That's going July 16 through 23. So I just think the takeaway for consumers is it's a good time to buy stuff, but make sure you look around before you check out of Amazon or anywhere, and maybe you can use membership

benefits or cash back from like a credit card to break the tie on good deals, you know, wherever you see them. And Tommy, everyone loves saving money. And there are so many deals out there that, you know, theoretically you could, but one thing leads to another and suddenly you're overspending. So how do you avoid falling into that trap? Yeah. I mean, I know that trap well. And I think the classic advice holds, even if it's hard to follow and sounds a little preachy, but try not to let a great sale lure you into spending money that you don't have. That's hard online, right? Because especially if you're working from home, you're sitting there, you can check. But I think if you plan to shop, see if you can use Prime Day to get a good buy on necessary purchases. One example could be, we're seeing

more shoppers use these big summer sales for back to school, getting out in front of that, maybe if their kids aren't ready for it, parents are. And this is according to National Retail Federation. And Prime Day is probably a good opportunity to get a backpack or a laptop or something like that, maybe those bigger purchases. And one thing that I like what I've seen from Amazon this year is they've curated these lists on these storefronts. They've got an off to college storefront, a back to school storefront. They're organized by grade level with curated products. You can see what's selling best. And then, you know, if you're in the market for something new, like a TV, and you have budgeted for it, I'd be silly not to check prices on Prime Day.

Yeah, I know it can be really overwhelming for people to choose what to buy from this seemingly infinite list of things that are on sale. And you mentioned the storefronts and even a curated list based on maybe your search history or your purchase history as ways that Amazon is kind of nudging you into specific areas. So we're recording this on Tuesday, but to listeners, it's Wednesday and the sale is still going on. And Tommy, what are some of the biggest and best deals you're seeing out there that maybe listeners aren't seeing on their curated feeds, but they might want to search for? Yes, it is so overwhelming, especially this year. And I kind of mentioned that I feel like for some

reason, the deal is just coming at us stronger this year, which is why we stress sticking with the things that you've already researched and have a feel for what constitutes a really good deal. I will say, again, kind of a little preachy, but hey, we're nerd wallet here, right? Browsing Prime Day without a plan can be a dangerous play. But that said, I've been looking around. Here are some examples of what I've seen. Amazon devices, Echo, Kindle, Fire. We know that these are going to be on good sale on Prime Day, and they've been on sale actually since before Prime Day, but they're some of the best prices that I've seen. But you don't have to buy them now because they will come back around. They always come back on sale on Black

Friday. Amazon will probably do an October Prime Day sale too, like they've done the past couple of years. Apple products, I mentioned Apple AirPods models, they're priced lower than normal today. Most of them, iPads, Apple Watch. I've seen some good deals on that. Electronics like headphones, Bluetooth speakers, and TV soundbars. These are always front and center on Prime Day. And this Prime Day is no exception. There's a pair of high-end Sony noise-canceling headphones that we've been tracking this year, and they're priced lower today than they were on Black Friday. And this is at Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart.

I'm going to keep going here. Baby gear. If you need a car seat, today is a good day to look. Toys for kids. And this could be a good opportunity to get the gift list going for the holidays. It's too early for me to do that. But toys, magnet tiles. This is a popular but pricey sensory toy.

And there's a great deal on a 100-piece set. This was the case last year as well. Dyson vacuums, coffee machines, the list goes on. But remember, a little discount skepticism can save you. So is there anything on your list this prime day, Tommy? I'm going to sound like a stick in the mud here, probably because of my role covering shopping, but I'm really looking for the deals on the essentials. So I need stock up on batteries. Amazon has good prices on batteries, even when they're not on sale, but they are probably on sale today. Some of the ones I've

seen, I'm looking at the brand of cat food and litter that we buy, but I will say I am a tech junkie and I do have this Sony soundbar. It's been saved in my cart for literally, I think a year. It is on sale today, but it was priced better last Prime Day because I remember that. And so I'm on the fence. I don't know. I probably won't buy it. Yeah, I wasn't planning on buying anything. But my Dyson vacuum and my Bissell steam cleaner finally keeled over on me a couple of days ago. So my floors are filthy and I need to pick up replacements. But I guess that was kind of serendipity. For me, I love a good kitchen gadget because I love to cook. So we've been eyeing this fancy countertop convection oven, air fryer, toaster oven thing. Toasters are nothing like they were when we were kids. They basically do everything now. And I also got my son a set of those magnet tiles. And I'm sure that I will be stepping on them in the middle of the night for years to come. So thank you for that, Amazon. He does love them. They play at daycare.

The teachers build elaborate structures and then all the kids descend upon it like tiny Godzillas and destroy it. And I would like to replicate that play session at home. So I think he'll have a lot of fun. There's always one piece left, right? When you put them all back, you like close the container. There's always another magnet tile on the floor.

Yeah, and you'll find it in a completely different room in three years. So it'll be great. All right. Well, Tommy, thank you for joining us and sharing how listeners could get deals if they want to or sit this one out if they want to, which is also an option. So thank you for joining us. Absolutely.

My pleasure. And to all the shoppers out there, stay strong. That's it for this week's Money News. We always welcome your money questions and comments. Turn to the nerds and call or text us your questions at 901-730-6373. That's 901-730-NERD. Or send us a voice memo at podcast at nerdwallet.com. And remember, you can follow the show on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio to automatically download new episodes.

Today's episode was produced by Anna. It was edited by Rick VanderKneife. Sarah Brink mixed our audio. And here's our brief disclaimer. We are not financial or investment advisors. This nerdy info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances. And with that said, until next time, turn to the nerds.