Amazon slides as tech issues weigh on Prime Day (AMZN)

Getty/Kevin Mazur

Amazon kicked off its annual Prime Day on Monday, which marks the company’s two-day shopping event filled with thousands of deals on everything from electronics to clothes.
Shares of the internet retailer were down slightly at mid-day on Monday.
Amazon said more than 100 million products were purchased on Prime Day in 2018, with the Echo Dot and FireTV stick ranking as two of the best-selling products.
Watch AMZN trade live.

One of the most popular events in online shopping commenced on Monday.

Amazon launched the fifth iteration of Prime Day, the internet retailer’s largest sale of the year. For the first time, Prime Day will last for a total of 48 hours with deals on Amazon’s Echo Dot, FireTV Stick, Kindle readers, and thousands of items from other retailers.

Shares of Amazon slid as much as 0.5% after the sale kicked off on Monday, and as the company faced technical difficulties for a second straight year.

The company said Prime Day 2018 was the "biggest in history" with Prime members buying more than 100 million products. Amazon’s Echo Dot and FireTV stick were among the best selling items.

Markets Insider is looking for a panel of millennial investors. If you’re active in the markets, CLICK HERE to sign up.

Meanwhile, thousands of Amazon workers across Europe and the US began protesting Prime Day on Monday over harsh working conditions and low-pay for warehouse employees.

The protests come as Amazon extended the event for additional 12 hours this year while also promising one-day delivery. Prime Day 2018 lasted for 36 hours.

Amazon’s pioneering of new Black Friday in July has pushed other retailers to launch competing sales. Walmart, which has been trying desperately to compete with Amazon, announced it’s own sale starting on July 14 running until July 16.

Shares of Amazon are up more than 33% year-to-date.

Now read more markets coverage from Markets Insider and Business Insider:

Wall Street is expecting the worst this earnings season. But Bank of America says traders will be pleasantly surprised.

A Wall Street firm says these 19 companies are set to dominate the broader market over the next year

This CEO got $3 million from investors including Serena Williams’ VC firm to fix a problem with women’s healthcare that even the star tennis player has struggled with

Markets Insider

NOW WATCH: The incredible story behind Slack, the app that’s taken over offices everywhere