Another Amazon Prime Day meant another record spend on the much-anticipated, mid-July event: Consumers in the United States spent $14.2 billion over the sale’s two days this year, up from the $12.7 billion they spent online a year ago.
Often foreseen as a harbinger of how well holiday sales might perform, Prime Day 2024’s numbers on July 16-17 bode well for companies and marketers now setting their sights even more closely on their end-of-year goals.
“Prime Day gives us a glimpse into what we can expect this holiday season,” said Rob Garf, vice president and general manager of retail and consumer goods at Salesforce.
“And retailers must be smiling. Online traffic and demand were up (this year). And much of the online growth was based on people buying more, not just higher prices.”
Not hurting Amazon and its retailers are the number of shoppers who anticipate mid-July because they have paid the monthly subscription price, now $14.99, to become Amazon Prime members. That membership now penetrates 67.8% of the U.S. population, according to eMarketer.
And, “Although 88% of those who shopped during Prime Day this year are members, per Numerator, the sales event is key for driving new sign-ups and retention, which fuels Amazon’s ad flywheel,” eMarketer noted in its Prime Day review.
3 Takeaways From Prime Day 2024
Here’s a glimpse into what some of the experts also are saying about Amazon Prime Day 2024:
- Expect many shoppers’ heads to be focused on their mobile devices this holiday season, whether it be searching for a gift or buying one, retail expert Jon Bird wrote last week in reviewing this year’s Prime Day results for Forbes.
“Mobile was not just a research tool during Prime Day, it accounted for 49.2% of actual online purchases, an increase of 18.6% over last year,” Bird said. “That trend will continue into the holidays, and in fact, over 55% of Black Friday traffic in the U.S. last year was via mobile devices, so it could be stronger yet again.”
- Amazon faces competition from Walmart and others, eMarketer said, noting that a quarter of Prime Day consumers also shopped from Walmart+ Week a month earlier.
“It makes sense to see retailers stagger their events,” eMarketer analyst Sarah Marzano said during a recent podcast. “Walmart’s strategic decision to schedule their sales event around a month before Prime Day may have helped them capture some early consumer spending momentum and differentiate themselves.”
There’s also the “halo effect” of other retailers and ecommerce sites besides Walmart playing host to their own sales events around Prime Day. During the week of this year’s Prime Day, retailers in general witnessed a 73% increase in online transactions compared to the week prior.
“Amazon is putting consumers in the mood to shop,” eMarketer said. “Prime Day may be reminding consumers to revisit their wish lists or hunt for deals — even if it means converting off of Amazon.”
- “Buy now, pay later” is getting increasingly popular.
“Consumers are more and more comfortable taking advantage of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) plans,” Bird wrote in his recent Forbes post.
“Roughly 79% of shoppers in the U.S. say they are ‘highly satisfied.’ BNPL is especially popular among Gen Z, so, it’s no wonder that BNPL represented 7.6% of Prime Day orders in the U.S., up 16.4% (year over year). In the U.K., it was even stronger with 14.9% of online orders using BNPL, up 6.5% on last year’s event.
“Watch out for BNPL to be a big deal throughout the holidays.”
Prime Day 2024 Marked Event’s 10th Anniversary
Prime Day began on July 15, 2015 and was promoted as a way for Prime members to celebrate Amazon’s 20th birthday at the time.
In 2022, it became more like “Prime Days,” expanding to a two-day event July 12-13 of that year when Prime members bought more than 300 million items worldwide.
During this year’s two-day event, more than 375 million items were sold globally, according to Amazon.
And now? It’s time for another Amazon event in mid-October, which was called “Prime Big Deal Days” last year, followed closely by Black Friday and Cyber Monday later that month, of course.
“So with Prime Day we’ve now seen the dress rehearsal for holiday shopping — at least in the markets where Amazon reigns supreme,” concluded Bird for Forbes.
“For retailers, it’s time to get your top performers ready for the big show in Q4.”
