Companies could forfeit $10 billion to lost productivity on Prime Day

Companies stand to lose billions of dollars because of Amazon Prime Day, as employees head online to land deals instead of working.

Amazon Prime Day, which started Monday evening, is a marathon event of major deals on Amazon.com. Amazon is offering more than 30 hours of deals to members of its Prime subscription service. But the day is bad news for employers.

» AMAZON PRIME DAY: Here’s a sneak peek at some of the deals

Prime Day could result in an estimated $10 billion in lost productivity, according to CNBC data journalist Eric Chemi. Most of the 85 million Prime members will spend an average of 1 minutes on Amazon every time a new round of deals pops up throughout the event.

Approximately 78 percent of people plan to shop at work, according to Chemi.

» AMAZON PRIME DAY: What you should know

“Our members love Prime Day and we have been thrilled by the response over the last two years. It is inspiring us to make it even better this year for Prime members,” said Greg Greeley, vice president of Amazon Prime. “Every part of our business is working to deliver more deals for a record number of shoppers. This year’s Prime Day is too big for 24 hours – so we’re giving Prime members 30 hours to shop.”

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