For nine years now Amazon has made the middle of summer a shopping holiday. And each year, it has been a little bit harder to grab the deals you want as more people swarm the site looking for bargains. Casual browsing isn’t the way to approach things if you’re on a mission. You’re going to need a plan.
Amazon has regularly updated how it approaches Prime Day deals, but there are some go-to methods that will help you locate bargains that are customized to things you actually need. Here are a few you’ll want to be aware of:
Alexa – Start Prime Day by asking “Alexa, what are my Prime Day deals?” (and it might be worth asking more than once throughout the day in case there are additions). While Amazon isn’t as gung ho on its digital assistant as it used to be, it’s still a good tool to find deals that might fly under the radar. Be sure to enable voice purchasing so you can grab those deals immediately.
This year, Alexa will also notify you of upcoming deals as much as 24 hours in advance, if that item is on your wishlist, in your shopping cart or saved for later. Go to the Alexa app and open Notifications under Settings and tap Amazon Shopping. Scroll down to Deal Recommendations and enable it.
Amazon’s app – Amazon’s app (available for Android and iOS) is a useful tool to track deals throughout both Prime Days. Again, your shopping list and items in your cart are key. Go to the app’s settings menu, click notifications, and toggle alerts on for “Your Watched and Waitlisted Deals.” You can also select the “Watch this deal” button on upcoming items that catch your eye.
Amazon Assistant browser extension – If you’re on a desktop or laptop, this Chrome extension will send desktop notifications for deals you’re watching. Maybe don’t add that to a work computer, though.
CamelCamelCamel.com – Prime Day prices are not always at their lowest, despite what the marketing might imply. CamelCamelCamel follows the price history of all products on Amazon, letting shoppers see how close a price is to its all-time low. You can also set alerts to find out when the price of your item of interest drops to a certain point.
Invite-only deals – Amazon, as it did last year, will offer some deals only by invitation. You can try to get on the list on the site’s front page. Among the deals being offered this year are up to 40% off Sony wireless headphones, up to 30% off Peloton products, 40% off a Speedo Champion Signature Swim bundle, up to 60% off on a Citizen Chronograph watch and 58% off on a Foreo LUNA mini 3 beauty set.
Deal hunting sites – Group-sourced deal tracking sites can be especially useful on Prime Day, though not necessarily with the big-ticket items (which sell out in minutes). Your best choices for these crowd-sourced deals include SlickDeals.net and Offers.com.