Amazon’s recent “Prime Day” is the latest in a series of retailer-created sale events designed to move merchandise.
GREEN MONDAY
Started by eBay in 2007, this event occurs on the second Monday of December. It pulled in sales of $1.6 billion in 2014.
SINGLES’ DAY
E-commerce titan Alibaba created this Nov. 11 event as an anti–Valentine’s Day holiday for China’s single population. Last year it racked up $9 billion in sales.
CYBER WEEK
Home Depot’s event, which began as a 24-hour sale in 2010, now encompasses a full seven days of deals.
BLACK FRIDAY IN JULY
The tradition of offering door-buster deals in the middle of summer (under “Black Friday” branding) was started by Target in 2010; it has since been adopted by Best Buy and others.
–VICTOR LUCKERSON
This appears in the July 27, 2015 issue of TIME.
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