Amazon's annual summer sale, Prime Day, has been postponed "at least until August" due to a coronavirus outbreak.

Reuters reported today (April 3) that the news that Prime Day would be postponed came from an internal meeting memo. The 48-hour shopping event has been held in July since it began in 2015 and, as Business Insider reported last year, is larger than Black Friday for Amazon. But because of the postponement, Amazon "expects a potential $100 million hit from excess devices," Reuters says.

Last month we reported that the e-commerce giant was working with third-party sellers to avoid running low on merchandise inventory during summer sale events. According to the New York Times, Amazon has begun asking for six to eight weeks' supply of Chinese-made products instead of the usual two to three weeks' supply.

Amazon had not announced an official date for this year's Prime Day. Amazon typically does not reveal details until several weeks before the sale begins. Because of this precedent, it is possible that Amazon will not issue a statement regarding the postponement of Prime Day. Rather, it may wait to announce the date of the online event until it is ready to handle a large volume of orders.

As it stands, Amazon's warehouses are scrambling to meet the demand for essential products caused by the coronavirus. As more people stay home and rely on online shopping, orders are delayed and services like Prime Pantry are struggling to keep up.

If you rely on Prime Day to get products at a discount, the best thing you can do is keep an eye on the products you need to buy and buy them when they are in a price range you are comfortable with. In other words, don't count on Amazon Prime Day this year.