Second annual Amazon Prime Day garners big hopes for ecommerce giant

Amazon launched its second annual Prime Day on Tuesday, hoping to boost sales and members with thousands of deals and discounts, with the sale beginning at midnight BST.

The ecommerce giant introduced the one-day sale event last year, reporting an 80% increase in sales in some regions, while some consumers weren't entirely impressed with the organisation of the day.

Amazon is calling it the “biggest Amazon event ever, with over 100,000 deals exclusively for Prime members worldwide on July 12.”

Prime Day will include various "Lightning Sales", as products will be up for grabs on a first-come first-serve basis, but only to those signed up to Amazon's Prime service. So those that don't have access to accounts will have to sign up today to the full membership, or a free trial. The retailer should see a sharp increase in memberships on Tuesday.

Amazon is calling it the “biggest Amazon event ever"

“Now the anticipation is almost over and Prime Day is upon us. Prime Day is firmly establishing itself as a major summer deals day and we’ve worked hard to make sure we are offering our Prime members the lowest prices on even more great deals for Prime Day 2016," said Managing Director Doug Gurr in a press releasse from the company.

Deals are being offered on various products, particularly those associated with the Amazon brand such as Kindles and Amazon Fires, the company's tablet.

The primary Prime Day in 2015 drummed up plenty of interest in consumers and commentators, and achieved a mixed bag of results.

From a financial perspective, the ecommerce group claimed to have made strong profits from the day, with US sales up 80% and most of Europe recording 40% increases to daily numbers.

However, it did receive somewhat of a backlash in some quarters for the exaggeration in the amount of items on sale, with many reporting that the majority of the "lightning deals" were done and dusted by 2pm.

Deals are being offered on various products, particularly those associated with the Amazon brand

Markets have reacted to the beginning of the huge sale, with researchers such as Victor Anthony from Axiom Capital raising Amazon's price target on Monday's stocks from $811 to $853.

Anthony pointed to the increased awareness of Prime Day as being one factor in the decision, including the ploy of offering further discounts for orders placed with voice-activated home device, Alexa. The device will play “an active role in Prime day” according to the Axiom researcher.

Time will tell whether Amazon will be able to match, or even better, the results gained from last year's Prime Day, and also improve its perception amongst consumers.