Amazon Prime Day vs. Target Deal Days: Here's What You Need To Know
UPDATED June 2021
(Original Post Date: 07-09-19)
This post has been updated to reflect this year’s Target Deal Days (06/20 to 06/22) and Amazon Prime Day (06/21 to 06/22).
If you know even a little bit of my shopping habits then you already know two of my favorite go to retailers for all the things are Target and Amazon…
and if you don’t know my fav retailers, you can go ahead and download my list of fav retailers here.
I like to think I share equal parts of my heart for Target and Amazon — I am a literal card carrying Target REDcard holder and have been an Amazon Prime member for more years than I can remember. So when I heard the news that Target was coming out with Target Deal Days, I was instantly excited — deeper discounts than their usual deals? SIGN. ME. UP!
Then I saw a second press release — Target to Debut Target Deal Days – No Membership Required.
And it hit me that these new deal days were in DIRECT competition with Amazon’s Prime Day, also July 15th and 16th.
Well played Target, well played.
While the word “competition” tends to denote something negative, I can’t think of anything better than this — it’s basically summertime black Friday, with less pressure aka fewer open browser tabs. The businesses get the benefits of us feverishly comparison shopping, while we reap the benefits of these two major retailers trying to outdo one another!
Being the self-appointed shopping connoisseur that I am, I’m gonna simplify this for you so that you can get the most bang for your browsing buck for those two days of deals:
Membership
While Target is proudly toting that there’s no membership required to enjoy their deal days, unlike Amazon’s Prime Day which is essentially only for Prime members, it will definitely be to your benefit to grab a Target REDcard since Target REDcard users get an additional 5% off and free 2-day shipping after spending $35 or more. Being that I try to be financially responsible from time to time, I do love that I had the option to get the REDcard as a debit card (as oppose to a credit card) so that it would draw directly from my checking account.
When it comes to Amazon’s Prime Day, as implied by the name, it’s a Prime member exclusive. On the blog, I’ve shared why I love being a Prime member — for both personal & profession reasons — so if you’re not already a member, I am definitely all for you taking advantage of their 30-day trial to test drive Prime Day this month. With either my husband and I are forever in school, we have been able to take advantage of a Prime Student membership and get 50% off the cost of a regular membership.
Apps
If you’re not shopping with apps then you’re not living. PERIODT. But if I’m honest, I simultaneously use apps and the computer to shop.
Both Target and Amazon have well built out apps — super intuitive and easy to use. P.S. I have an iPhone so don’t ask me nothing about Android apps. Because I can easily browse their apps, I use them to set up my shopping lists — Target for where to find the things I want in-store and Amazon for setting up deal notifications.
Once I’m all squared away with what I’m getting and why, I just hop on the computer to my cash-back (more on that in a bit), set up shipping (or pick-up) preferences, and confirm payment info. After the fact, I then proceed to stalking my apps for all the tracking information.
From the Target app you can do everything from set up same day shopping, in-store pick up, or curbside delivery if you’re lucky enough to have that roll out in your area.
Previews
While I don’t know if this’ll change later, right now Target isn’t letting any of us know what’ll be on sale during these 2 days. What Target has told us so far is:
“Target Deal Days offers include rarely-on-sale, exclusive home, apparel and toy brands, discounts on hundreds of thousands of items and new deals each day. ”
I’m no expert, but I am certain that this includes Target exclusive brands, like Project 62, Opalhouse, and Cravings by Chrissy Teigen.
Amazon, on the other hand, starts rolling out previews a week in advance so that while in the app you can start “watching” the deals you’re interested in and get an alert as soon as they go on sale on Prime Day…and that’s not even counting the items that will exclusively launching on Prime Day.
Cash-Back
Now clearly between both these sales, both these days, you’ll be shelling out a lot of coins. BUT what if I told you, that you could earn some of that back through cash-back?
Now this has absolutely, positively, nothing to do with either Target or Amazon exclusively and it’s actually one of my fav shopping “hacks” year round — Rakuten, formerly Ebates. As luck would have it, both Target and Amazon are partner stores with Rakuten, which lets you earn cash back when shopping on line.
While they both also happen to have their limitations and such when it comes to what you can earn cash back on, something is better than nothing, and it literally costs you nothing but an extra click to activate. Plus when you join, you get a $10 bonus after your first purchase…so I mean, not a bad deal at all.
You're welcome.
WHEW!
That was a lot and I don’t even think I scratched the surface when it comes to these two epic shopping days coming up. But now you know what I know, and that’s all that matters. If I do any exciting shopping this year, I’ll definitely share with you what’s in my cart. Hell, even if I’m not shopping, I’ll probably share with you what I wish was in my cart. LOL. And don’t be stingy — definitely lemme know what you’re planning to snag when the time comes!
