Marketplace Briefing: Prime Day starts softly as consumers buy gift cards, stock up on essentials, hold out for deeper discounts

“Right now, costs have risen so much, and my income hasn’t matched that,” McNary said. “There are still items in my cart that I would love to purchase, but I’m really thinking more carefully about those. They’re non-essentials.”

McNary said she even bought discounted gift cards for retailers she already shops at, including Ulta, Starbucks and Nordstrom. A $50 gift card selling for $42.50 was “like free money,” she said.

As consumers continue to grapple with elevated gas prices, many are using the sale not to splurge on big-ticket electronics but to stock up on household necessities, personal care products and other items they were already planning to buy. They’re also taking a more cautious approach to spending, focusing on pre-planned purchases and waiting for meaningful discounts before pulling the trigger. 

Early data from market research firm Numerator suggests consumers are spending less overall and focusing on lower-priced goods. The average household spent $89.04 as of 4 p.m. Eastern Time on the first day of Prime Day, down 16% from the same point last year, according to a survey of more than 6,700 Prime Day orders from more than 3,600 households, Numerator said Tuesday. Average order value fell 17% to $48.36. Two-thirds of products purchased have sold for less than $30.

The trend continued Wednesday. The average household spent $46.89 as of 4 p.m. Eastern Time, Numerator said, down from $57.12 at the same time during last year’s sale. The data is based on over 48,000 Prime Day orders from more than 21,000 households.

Shoppers have been snapping up Premier Protein shakes, Hefty Ultra Strong trash bags, Liquid I.V. hydration packets, Temptations cat treats and Neutrogena makeup remover wipes, rather than televisions or laptops. 

“Prime Day is built to help customers save across a wide selection, from everyday essentials to big-ticket items, and we’re pleased with what we’re seeing and hearing so far — contrary to this third-party data,” an Amazon spokesperson told Modern Retail in a statement. “Prime members are shopping millions of items at their lowest price of the year so far, with hundreds of thousands of deals discounted by 40% or more across 35 categories including electronics, kitchen, beauty, fashion and outdoor.” 

Although analysts expect Prime Day spending to reach record levels this year, shoppers are showing little appetite for impulse purchases unless discounts are substantial. Consumers will spend $26.3 billion online during the four-day event across Amazon and competing retailers, up 9% from last year’s event in July, according to Adobe Analytics. Amazon will capture about 60% of all U.S. online spending during Prime Day, its highest share since 2019, according to eMarketer. 

Consumers may be spending more cautiously, but they are still spending. Adobe said U.S. retailers generated a record $8.3 billion in online sales on the first day of Prime Day, up 5.3% from a year earlier and the biggest e-commerce day of 2026 so far. While electronics and appliances helped drive sales, Adobe also reported strong growth in purchases of personal care products, household goods and baby items.

“Moving Prime Day earlier in the summer really benefits grocery, household essentials and CPG categories,” said Brad Jashinsky, director analyst at Gartner.

Slower start

Lizzie Hill has spent the opening days of Prime Day monitoring prices rather than clicking “Buy Now.” The 22-year-old incoming graduate student at the University of Alabama has been shopping for cleaning supplies, home goods and what she describes as “more adulting items” as she prepares for graduate school. 

Shoppers say they are becoming more selective about what qualifies as a good deal. Taylor Wale, a 26-year-old digital marketing specialist in Houston, said she increasingly uses Prime Day to replenish everyday items.

“I like to get Poppi drinks, the sparkling soda, and I like to stock up on other smaller items, like kitchen towels, face wipes,” Wale said. “If there are things like that that I need to refill on, I’ll wait for Prime Day.”

Like many shoppers, Wale has a discount threshold in mind before she clicks buy. Roughly one in five shoppers view 50% off as the minimum threshold for a good deal, while a similar share want at least 40% off, according to marketing firm Tinuiti.

“I try to shop for stuff that’s at least 40%,” she said. Wale added that she uses technology, including a shopping app called Locker, to track when items on her wish list go on sale. 

The hunt for steep discounts may help explain why spending is off to a slower start. Roughly half of shoppers surveyed by Numerator said they purchased an item they had been waiting to buy until it went on sale. At the same time, shoppers are scrutinizing prices more closely and comparing deals across retailers.

One splurge Hill is debating is a new hair dryer. A Shark model she has been considering is currently selling for about $199, while a comparable Dyson is still priced around $369 even after Prime Day discounts.

“Since it has just started, I am waiting it out to see if [prices] go down any more,” she said.

Watching margins

Shoppers’ growing focus on value comes as many brands have less room to offer steep discounts than they did in previous years. Chris Holt, co-founder of outdoor retailer Campman, said higher costs have made brands more cautious about promotions. Aside from one Prime Day exclusive deal and a handful of discounted products, the company is largely maintaining regular pricing on its roughly 4,000 SKUs during Prime Day.

Some sellers say consumers have become more selective as prices have climbed. Holt said product prices across many outdoor brands have risen roughly 30-40% since the pandemic. One tent his company sells climbed from about $500 to $800 over that period. Tariffs, transportation costs and gas prices have added further pressure on costs in recent months.

“We’re starting to bump up against that ceiling of what an acceptable cost for some of our products are to the consumers,” Holt said.

Some consultants who advise Amazon sellers are reporting a softer start to Prime Day compared to last year’s event.

“Don’t get me wrong, we have several brands posting triple-digit [year-over-year] growth, and many of our long-term clients are having fantastic events,” Laura Meyer, a former Amazon employee and founder of the marketing firm Envision Horizons, which works with about 75 brands, wrote in a LinkedIn post. “But across our broader portfolio, excluding a few major outliers, Day 1 sales were up about 16% [year-over-year]. Last year, that number was closer to 24%.”

Meyer attributed the tepid start to Amazon’s decision to once again stretch Prime Day across four days, giving shoppers more time to browse and delaying some purchases until later in the week.

“When consumers feel like they have four days to make a decision, some of that ‘buy now before it’s gone’ behavior appears to disappear,” she wrote.

Holt said last year’s four-day Prime Day actually generated 8.6% less revenue for Campman than the company’s two-day Prime Day event in July 2024.

Necessities over splurges

Amrita Bhasin, a 25-year-old founder of a reverse logistics startup in San Francisco, said electronics are no longer the main draw. Instead, she is looking at beauty products, wellness items and organizational products for her home.

“Those kinds of items that have immediate utility for us,” she said.

Munam Wasi, a 31-year-old managing director at a financial services company in Malibu, California, still sees Prime Day as an opportunity to purchase larger-ticket items. This year, he bought a Breville Joule sous vide machine after seeing the price drop by more than $100. He had been considering the appliance for some time and decided the discount was finally large enough to justify “pulling the trigger,” he said.

Still, he said Prime Day increasingly revolves around practical purchases.

“A lot of the things that I buy across household goods or skin care or consumables, a lot of them are actually discounted,” Wasi said. 

He is already considering placing another order before Prime Day ends. One item on his list is a La Roche-Posay lotion he regularly buys. The product typically costs about $30 but is currently on sale for $18.

Bhasin said her household still keeps an eye on electronics. But those purchases often happen later in the year, around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, when discounts are steepest. As she put it, “I don’t know how many Americans are really buying big electronic items every year.”

What I’m reading

• Amazon has begun buying ads on ChatGPT. (Business Insider)
• Amazon gives big brands more control over product listings. (The Information)
• Amazon seller reveals rare glimpse of shadow bribery market. (Bloomberg)

What we’ve covered

• 5 things to watch for this Prime Day
• How brands aim to stand out this summer as it’s become ‘harder to create momentum’
• Talent agencies are training creators to act like retailers