Amazon Prime Day Kicks off In Australia with Discounts on Alexa Devices
Australians are experiencing their first Amazon Prime Day and they are getting an idea of what U.S. shoppers have come to expect from the event: discounts on a wide variety of products and even bigger discounts on smart speakers. While there are discounts on offer for computer monitors, clothing and even Coca-Cola, the Echo product line is 25-51% off.
Amazon Prime Day Listings in Australia. Pricing is in Australian Dollars.
Amazon Echo second generation is on sale for A$109 (27% off) and Echo Spot is discounted 25% to A$149. However, the Echo Dot and Echo Plus are both set at 50% off list price at A$39 and A$114.50 respectively. Discounting and Prime Day may be an important tool to drive awareness and trial of Amazon Echo smart speakers.
A study by Edison Research in early 2018 found that about 5% of Australian consumers owned a smart speaker. However, that number was mostly Google Home devices since Echo didn’t go on sale in the country until February 2018, missing the 2017 holiday season entirely. In addition, Edison found that awareness of Amazon Alexa was only 28% among Australian consumers compared to over 60% for Google Home.
Google Home On Sale, but Not as Much
It is not surprising that Google Home is also on sale in Australia. The Google store lists Google Home Mini at A$59, a 25% discount. Google Home is discounted 35% down to A$129. Amazon knows Google’s discounted pricing so it is reasonable to assume the discounts are pegged lower purposefully. Google may also decide to offer steeper discounts now that Amazon’s prices are publicly visible.
In a few hours, Prime Day deals will be available in several European countries followed by the U.S. You are likely to see similar discounting on smart speakers from both Amazon and Google.
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