WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - Amazon.com Inc said on Monday (Sept 28) it would hold its annual shopping event, Prime Day, on Oct 13 and 14 as the e-commerce giant aims for an early kickstart to the holiday season.

The company earlier this year had postponed the two-day shopping event, which started in 2015 to drum up sales during the summer shopping lull, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Amazon said it is investing an additional US$100 million (S$137 million) in special Prime Day and holiday promotional programmes.

The Seattle-based company is on an expansion spree on the back of a meteoric rise in its business, thanks to a surge in online orders during coronavirus-induced lockdowns, which helped it post its biggest-ever quarterly profit in 26 years in July.

The company does not disclose revenue from the event, but has said that merchants contributed to US$2 billion in sales during Prime Day in 2019, which spanned for 48 hours and 18 countries.

Amazon's stock, which has surged nearly 70 per cent this year, was up about 1 per cent at US$3124.54 in afternoon trade on Monday.