Amazon Prime Day sales up nearly 9% from 2020

According to two surveys of shoppers by Adobe Analytics and Numerator, Amazon is on pace for record Prime Day sales this year.

During the first 24 hours of the annual online shopping event, sales are set to total more than $5.6 billion, up nearly 9% from a year ago and outpacing the $5.1 billion spent over the Thanksgiving holiday in 2020, Adobe reports.

The 48-hour event, which kicked off at 3 a.m. Monday, June 21, will wind down early Wednesday. Adobe said it is not comparing this year’s Prime Day shopping event to last year’s promotion in October. The event had traditionally taken place in July until COVID-19 forced a delay. Amazon also is said to have shifted this year’s event a bit sooner to help spur on what is typically a second-quarter shopping lull.

Numerator, a tech data company based in Chicago, reports that during the first 24 hours of Amazon’s Prime Day event, the average spend per order was $47, down from $54.64 spend in 2020 and $58.91 spent in 2019 ahead of the pandemic. The report said that so far, 44% of orders were placed for $20 or less. Nearly a quarter (24%) were for more than $100.

Almost half (45%) of households shopping on Prime Day have already placed two or more orders, and 6% placed five or more orders in the first 32 hours of the event. Numerator said the average household spend is approximately $92, with 1 in 10 households (11%) spending more than $200. The top five items sold in the first 32 hours were Amazon-branded products, including Amazon Photos Project, Amazon Gift Card Reload, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Echo Dot 4th Generation and the Amazon Fire Tablet. The survey also found that typical Prime Day shoppers generally are high-income females between the ages of 35 and 44 who live in suburban neighborhoods, Numerator reports.

More than 9 in 10 Prime Day shoppers (98%) said they were Amazon Prime members. The majority (83%) had joined Prime pre-COVID (before March 1, 2020), and 10% said they joined Prime after the start of the pandemic. Additionally, Amazon saw a 2% uptick in new members joining during the event. Numerator also found that half of Prime Day shoppers (50%) said they bought items included in Prime Day deals, and nearly a quarter (24%) said they purchased the same things they usually buy on Amazon.

More than half (54%) surveyed by Numerator only considered Amazon for their purchase. A quarter (25%) considered Walmart, 20% considered Target, 9% considered Club retailers and 7% considered Best Buy, grocery retailers or department stores. The survey also found that 78% of Prime Day buyers didn’t compare Amazon prices with any other website or store, and nearly 3 in 5 Prime Day shoppers (59%) only made purchases from Amazon on Prime Day.

The Numerator survey found that 7% used Prime Day to get started on holiday shopping, and 3% said they bought back-to-school items. The top categories Prime Day buyers reported purchasing are household essentials (29%), home & garden (27%), apparel and shoes (25%).

Nearly 1 in 5 shoppers (19%) say they bought groceries from Amazon on Prime Day, a significant percentage on a day historically known for consumer electronics sales. Consumer Electronics was the fourth most purchased category (25% of Prime Day shoppers), down from its number one position during last year’s Prime Day (32% of Prime Day 2020 shoppers).

Three-quarters (78%) of Prime Day shoppers had shopped on Prime Day in previous years, and more than 9 in 10 (96%) said they are likely to shop on Prime Day again if Amazon were to hold a second event later in 2021. Of those who shopped on Prime Day in 2020 and 2021, nearly half (45%) prefer the timing of a June event over an October event (20%), Numerator reports.