Amazon's 'Prime Day' Underway; De Blasio Tell New Yorkers It's A 'Perfect Day To Keep It Local, To Buy From Your Neighborhood Stores'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Mayor Bill de Blasio is urging New Yorkers to shop local as Amazon is hosting its summer Prime Day sale.
"This is the day when Amazon tries to outgun every small business, every local retailer everywhere, and continue to dominate," de Blasio said. "I'm saying something simple today. Today's Prime Day, it's a perfect day not to shop Amazon. It's a perfect day to keep it local, to buy from your neighborhood stores. It's a perfect day to shop your city, keep the money in our city, support our small businesses."
De Blasio pointed to labor struggles at Amazon's JFK 8 warehouse on Staten Island.
"Staten Island's largest private employer - we appreciate that. What we don't appreciate is repeated efforts by Amazon to stop unionization by the workers. That is not fair. That's not respecting the democratic rights of those workers. Amazon literally made record profits last year but they don't seem to want to share them with working people," de Blasio said.
Web Extra: Mayor de Blasio Urges New Yorkers To Shop Local On Prime Day
"To me, a real prime shopper keeps it local, keeps the money in our neighborhoods, helps working people directly, doesn't put the money in the pockets of Amazon," he added.
De Blasio said the city has been in contact with Amazon workers who are trying to organize.
"Amazon does not have a good track record when it comes to labor," the mayor said. "Here we are in one of the most pro-labor cities in America. We're going to do everything in our power to protect those workers."
While the holiday shopping season is months away, there are plenty of deals to be had right now. Prime Day kicked off Monday morning, and with it there are plenty of price drops from Amazon competitors.
Amazon's summer cyber sale is earlier than ever before.
"We're so excited to bring Prime Day back to its summer season," said Amazon spokesperson Kate Scarpa.
Last year, Amazon delayed Prime Day until October because of the pandemic, when pointing and clicking became the predominate way to shop.
People are venturing to physical stores again, but Amazon is enticing Prime members with a host of new online offers.
"This year, we have more than two million deals for Prime members, and that's more deals than we've ever had before for any Prime Day," Scarpa said.
According to Adobe Analytics, 58% of consumers say they plan to shop online during Prime Day, and 31% expect to spend money from their stimulus checks.
"Amazon has managed to do is create a whole new holiday," said CNET Senior Managing Editor Dan Ackerman.
Ackerman says it's not just Amazon. Several retailers, including Target and Walmart, are also offering sales right now to compete.
"For a lot of the stores is a big emphasis on things like Chromebooks and laptops and smart home speakers, but there's also a lot of fashion and clothing and also a lot of kitchen stuff," Ackerman said.
Ackerman's advice? With so many deals, it's good to go in with a game plan.
"You want to have a little bit of a list, and you want to look for specific items and then price compare them between stores," Ackerman said. "I got these Air Pod pros last year that were on sale for Prime Day when I normally would not have bought them."
Amazon shoppers have until Tuesday night to find what they're looking for.