Amazon Prime Day billed as “A two day parade of epic deals”… unfortunately, “A two day parade of money leaving the region”

• Why does Amazon host Prime Day?
  • Amazon is seeking to grown its Prime membership, build loyalty, and get more people buying more things from them
• Does it work? How does it work?
  • By making consumers feel that if they buy into a club, there is benefit – and if they don’t, they are missing out on something
  • Prime Day suspends sales from other businesses, as Prime Members wait to see what will be offered
  • Amazon suspends sales from themselves, but makes it up when consumers over-buy
• What’s wrong with that? [this is America, capitalism, Darwin, etc. .] -- Why does it matter?
  • At the community level –
  • The way we fund services for our citizens has not evolved, cannot keep up
  • Online purchases are not funding your local school, police force, social service organizations
  • Few owners of online companies live in your town and support local athletics, pay local salaries, use local vendors for raw goods or services
  • On the individual consumer level --
  • Encourages impulse buying
  • Studies show that Amazon is not the only entity that benefits from Prime Day, the ‘halo effect’ = drives more consumers to the web overall
  • Further builds future habits of buying online, re-order, subscribe, etc.
  • Further removes us from human interaction
• What is the alternative? / Why
  • Face-to-face, traditional brick and mortar shopping causes people to slow down and give greater consideration to purchases – allows time to examine quality, try clothing on, sample or test drive, and ask for recommendations from real people they know and trust
  • Where your dollars go matters
  • Who you do business with matters
• What can I do about it?
  • Give us 10%. Spend 10% of the money that you would have spent online, in a local business, in southern Illinois, in your county or town
  • Ask yourself can I buy this here? If it is exotic, severely overpriced, or not available – that is one thing, but if not…
  • If you go online -- Slow down, put it in your cart, come back to it later, ask yourself do I still want it? Need it?
  • Buy local goods that mean something, that remind you of an experience – a mug from your favorite coffee shop, a t-shirt from your favorite event, handmade soap, a locally made dish towel with a clever saying
  • Experiences that involve a purchase ARE shopping local. Imagine, and then live a day or a weekend living like tourist. Going to your favorite local features, shopping and dining at your favorite places – the ones where you would take a special guests from out of the area
  • Quality over quantity, Meaning over mindless, Reusable over disposable, Experience / expression over impulse