Amazon Briefing: Online sales surge to $14B during record-breaking Prime Day
This is the latest installment of the Amazon Briefing, a weekly Modern Retail+ column about the ever-changing Amazon ecosystem. More from the series →
Shoppers in the U.S. spent more than $14 billion online during Amazon’s 48-hour sales bonanza known as Prime Day, up 11% from a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics, as deal-hungry consumers snapped up home goods and other household essentials.
Amazon has already described it as the “biggest Prime Day shopping event ever,” with shoppers buying more items over the course of the two-day period compared to last year, when customers bought more than 375 million items worldwide, according to a press release published Thursday. Amazon also said a record-breaking number of customers signed up for Prime in the three weeks leading up to Prime Day, though the company did not provide exact figures. Amazon generally doesn’t disclose sales figures for its Prime Day event.
It’s been a strong year for online shopping so far as inflation-weary consumers increasingly turn to e-commerce platforms to hunt for cheaper goods across a slew of product categories. Shoppers have already spent nearly $503 billion online during the first six months of the year, up more than 7% compared to the same period in 2023, according to Adobe. The data provider is forecasting that consumers will spend another $229 billion in the next three months, a more than 7% increase from last year.
Data suggests discounting played a key role in the uptick in Prime Day sales. In the U.S., promotional activity was up 14% compared to last year, according to Salesforce data that analyzed the activity of 1.5 billion shoppers during the first 12 hours of the second day of the shopping event. Still, several brands that spoke with Modern Retail said their Prime Day success had less to do with offering steeper discounts and more to do with various other levered they pulled, such as Amazon-exclusive products, advertising blitzes and going on viral on TikTok.
“The electronics, apparel, and furniture categories make up nearly half of e-commerce spend but has seen low single digit growth in the first half of 2024,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights. “It’s clear now that the Prime Day event has been a catalyst across these major categories, with discounts deep enough for consumers to hit the buy button and upgrade items in their homes.”
Smaller-ticket purchases for household essentials, home goods and apparel and shoes were strong growth drivers this year. Research firm Numerator said the average order size on Prime Day was $57.97, according to data culled from more than 93,000 Amazon orders by about 35,000 households, as of 9 a.m. EDT on Thursday. Nearly two-thirds of Prime Day items sold for under $20, while 4% were over $100.
“This year’s Prime Day focused on small indulgences and everyday items,” said Numerator analyst Amanda Schoenbauer. “Shoppers purchased fewer big-ticket items than we’ve seen in past years, and fewer participants placed multiple orders throughout the sale, indicating a shift to more conscious shopping and a preference for saving over splurging.”
Shoppers are increasingly buying products on their phones. Mobile devices drove nearly half of online sales compared to computer purchases, up nearly 19% from last year, Adobe said.
An increasing share of customers also used “buy now, pay later” services, indicating that while inflation has cooled from its highs, consumer finances are still stretched thin. On July 16 alone, BNPL orders accounted for nearly 8% of online orders and drove $540 million in revenue, up a whopping 17% over last year.
Research firm eMarketer expected U.S. shoppers to spend an estimated $8 billion on Amazon during the two-day event, increasing total U.S. e-commerce sales by nearly 6%.
What brands reported
Early numbers suggest that Amazon’s summer discount event drove a sales spike for some brands compared to the same time last year as shoppers looked to save money on household goods and necessities while also preparing for the back-to-school season.
Judah Bergman, the CEO of Jool Baby, which sells baby products, including swings and changing pads, said his brand saw sales surge about 20% during the first day of Prime Day compared to last year. He said shoppers are using the sales event to save money on more standard purchases, including necessities such as baby products.
Although electronics have historically flown off the shelves during Prime Day, some of the biggest winners this year were consumer packaged goods.
One such beneficiary was collagen brand Obvi, which saw sales rise 30% on July 16, the first day of Amazon’s sales event, compared to the same time a year ago, according to CEO and co-founder Ronak Shah. He also said that traffic to his products on Amazon’s marketplace was up by about 12% compared to last year’s Prime Day.
Obvi’s discounting activity during Prime Day remained about the same compared to last year, but Shah said the brand has “doubled down” on its advertising investments during the two-day period, driving brand visibility and sales. For example, Obvi spent $20,000 a day on advertising last year on channels such as Google and Meta. This year, Obvi upped that spend to about $30,000 a day.
“I believe that Amazon rewards the products that take part in a lot of the efforts they want you to, which we have,” said Shah. “We are constantly being told, ‘Hey, why don’t you use the Amazon affiliates links?’ Why don’t you use Amazon’s affiliate program? They want us to drive traffic from other places to Amazon.”
Shah also attributed the uptick in sales to its exclusive products the brand made for Amazon. For example, Shah said certain flavors the brand offers — such as cotton candy or its coffee-infused collagen product — are sold only on Amazon.
Unilever’s Liquid I.V., which sells powdered electrolyte drink mixes, said it saw a 13-fold lift during this year’s Prime Day compared to the year before. It also launched its first Amazon-exclusive product in the lead-up to Prime Day, a variety pack of best-selling flavors. It was a “unique” strategy that helped the CPG brand stand out in what has become an increasingly crowded category on Amazon’s marketplace, according to Aaron Jones, the brand’s vice president of e-commerce and media.
It’s also been a big year for Liquid I.V. in terms of raising brand awareness. In May, the brand went viral on TikTok for its Popsicle Firecracker product, which led to a spike of 43,000 orders across various retailers, the majority of which were from new customers. To be sure, Liquid I.V. was already one of the best-selling products during last year’s Prime Day, but Jones said the “TikTok made me buy it” phenomenon helped ensure the brand was top of mind among consumers ahead of this year’s two-day event.
All told, such efforts helped make Liquid I.V. a top-performing brand during Prime Day. Liquid I.V.’s packets were the third best-selling item during the two-day event, by number of units sold, according to data published on Thursday at 9 a.m. EDT by Numerator.
Amazon news to know
- Amazon’s AI assistant Rufus is now available to all U.S. customers. It is, however, still in beta.
- As part of its return-to-work policy, Amazon is reportedly counting the number of hours workers spend in the office. Workers are allegedly being told they need to spend a minimum of two hours in the company’s building in order for it to be considered an office visit.
- Experts warned that Prime Day is likely going to be a field day for scammers.