Amazon Prime Day (and a Half) Will Be the Biggest One Yet
*By Max Godnick*
This year, Amazon's Prime Day is really more of a day and a half.
The thirty-six hour global shopping spree is the longest promotion in the event's four year history. While everything from light bulbs to luggage will be on sale, the made-up holiday is meant to drive shoppers to Amazon's own lines of products and devices.
"It's a really ingenious supervillain-type of idea by Jeff Bezos," said Matt Swider, the senior mobile and buying guides editor at TechRadar, in an interview with Cheddar on Thursday.
Prime Day's best deals have always centered around the company's own offerings such as the Echo, Kindle, and Fire suites. Swider says he expects the prices of those items to hit all-time lows when the event starts on July 16th.
"It's almost like the GoPros and the Playstations and the XBoxes are there to tempt you to the site, and then you'll buy Amazon products" he said.
This year, Amazon will extend the Prime Day deals to its brick-and-mortar Whole Foods and Amazon Go operations, bringing the day of savings into the real world for the first time ever.
Prime Day is Amazon's answer to the biggest shopping days of the holiday season: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Swider said the company picked July because it's in a relatively quiet period in the national cycle of holidays and pop-culture events. While it hasn't quite lived up to the standards set by the end-of-the-year shopping rush, Prime Day fills a niche all its own: affordable home goods.
"It can't compare if you're looking for a Black Friday or a Cyber Monday," cautioned Swider. "If you're looking to pick up an item or two that you've been putting off, this is the time to buy it."
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/everything-you-need-to-know-about-amazons-biggest-prime-day-yet)
Cepton made its debut on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ‘CPTN’ on Thursday. Jun Pei, the co-founder and CEO, joined Cheddar News to discuss going public and its lidar-based solutions for improving safety in autonomous features in cars. "It's really just a huge benefit in addition to radar and camera, and becomes an entire sensor suite that will bring cars to a higher level, both for safety and autonomy."
A Senate bill unveiled on Wednesday looks to tackleonline safety for children by regulating Big Tech and social media platforms to deter users from content that can harm their mental health. Irene Ly, a policy counsel for the age-based ratings and review organization Common Sense Media, joined Cheddar News to break down the potential of the Kids Online Safety Act. "We can't be imposing such a big burden on parents to be doing it all on theirselves," Ly said. "I think you also have to keep in mind that parents often didn't grow up with social media, so they don't understand what it's like to be addicted to social media or really understand how they work."
While many still remain skeptical about the metaverse, big tech firms and even one big bank are ready to expand their virtual worlds. Facebook parent company has pivoted so hard it will now call its employees 'Metamates,' and even JPMorgan Chase has created its own digital lounge on one virtual platform. While the sector remains young, there seems to be significant investment opportunity, especially with companies like Nvidia. Adam Johnson, a portfolio strategist at Adviser Investments, joins Closing Bell to discuss which companies could win in this space, consumer appetite, and more.
Marc Blinder, Co-Founder and CEO of Aikon, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he discusses how his company is helping businesses use blockchain applications without needing to learn the intricacies of the new technology.
The Federal Reserve minutes from its January meeting are indicating it's sticking to an interest rate hike in March, but what does the report coupled with ongoing inflation mean for investors going forward? Scott Brown, a market strategist at LPL Financial, joined Cheddar News to break down the minutes and talk about how investors might navigate the rest of the year. "it seems like the market is kind of inclined to trade off these headlines, really, through the first half of the year," he said. "And then, oh, don't forget, we've got midterm elections, which always tend to add a little bit of volatility in the second half of the year." Brown noted that the path forward for stock investors in 2022 would be "rockier" than last year.
