When Amazon launched its first Prime Day in 2015, customers flocked to the sale, buying 34 million items worldwide. Last year, that number soared to 300 million.

While that growth underscores the success of the made-up holiday (which expanded beyond a 24-hour event in 2017 and hasn’t looked back), it also highlights the scope of the sale. And with that many items up for grabs over 48 hours, it’s easy for consumers to get overwhelmed—and possibly decide it’s just not worth the trouble. For Prime Day 2023, however, Amazon is hoping a more personalized shopping experience will keep them engaged for longer than ever. And that could set the course for the company’s day-to-day operations in years to come.

“The breadth of this event has gotten tremendously big,” says Carmen Nestares Pleguezuelo, head of Amazon’s U.S. Prime memberships. “Your Prime Day and my Prime Day are different. We’re going to tailor Prime Day exclusively for [the customer].”

By leveraging machine learning, tweaking existing features, and introducing a few new ones, Amazon aims to put the deals that are most likely to appeal to you directly in your line of sight. It’s not the first year Prime Day has been personalized (that would have been in 2021—and engagement shot up 400%), but it’s likely going to be the most noticeable.

“This year we have 40-plus personalized deal campaigns happening on Prime Day,” says Nestares Pleguezuelo.

Some of those campaigns might be familiar, such as “recommended deals for you” or “inspired by your recent history.” But also present will be deals on items you’ve bought before and everyday essentials, making you aware of savings on things you buy frequently or are inspired by them. The front page of the site will also alert you to deals on items that are on your wish lists.

To make the site hyper-personalized for Prime members, Amazon is using AI and deep learning, says Nestares Pleguezuelo, looking at everything from shipping and browser histories to wish list. While there’s not necessarily anything new about that, the Prime Day implementation of it will be to a higher degree than you’ve seen before.

“I think it’s always been in the DNA [of the company],” she adds. “But bringing it forward . . . is very powerful. Our ambition over time is to make the merchandising of our site more personalized.”

Internal tests have shown the new tools do, in fact, encourage shoppers. “Shop along” events, where Amazon employees watch customers as they browse the site, have shown people’s desire to more quickly access their list. It could also help engage Gen Z, as younger customers have less patience in hunting for deals.

Among the new features that will be rolled out for Prime Day 2023 are:

• Invite-only deals: Rather than hoping to catch the biggest deals and beat out every other user, this year you’ll be able to request an invite to purchase the product in advance. That’s available now and the lucky ones who do get a shot will be notified on Prime Day with instructions on how to purchase the item. They’ll have until the end of the day to do so.
• Reimagined lists: Customers can view and manage saved items within a centralized spot—“Your Lists”—which will automatically group saved items into relevant product categories, such as “Health and Beauty,” “Clothing, Shoes, and Accessories,” “Books,” and (yes) “Deals,” featuring all saved items that are on sale.
• Buy Again 2.0: Items you’ve purchased before that are on sale (such as light bulbs, dog food, or deodorant) will be highlighted in a special area on the site and in the app.

The personalization and emphasis on Prime comes at a bit of an awkward time for Amazon. In late June, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued the retailer, accusing it of enrolling customers in its Amazon Prime program without their consent and “sabotaging their attempts to cancel” those memberships.

“Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan in a statement. “These manipulative tactics harm consumers and law-abiding businesses alike.”

Amazon disputed the charges, saying “we make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up for or cancel their Prime membership. As with all our products and services, we continually listen to customer feedback and look for ways to improve the customer experience, and we look forward to the facts becoming clear as this case plays out.”

Regardless of how that suit plans out, expect personalization to become more and more a part of Amazon’s shopping experience. The ambition, says Nestares Pleguezuelo, is to have personalized deal events for customers at some point.

“We’re on this journey,” she said. “How long it will take us, I cannot answer. It’s one of the most exciting things I’m working on.”

Correction, July 10, 2023: This article has been updated with the amount of Prime Day engagement in 2001 and Nestares Pleguezuelo’s official title.