By Jay Bemis | Advertising Systems Inc.
A recent poll indicated that there may be several reasons why some people will skip shopping on Amazon when its annual Prime Day arrives July 11-12, but we must say the poll leaves us a bit skeptical.
After all, an estimated 142 million U.S. consumers are expected to shop on Amazon during this year’s Prime Day, compared to 131 million who shopped during the event in 2022, according to eMarketer.
That means about 54% of the U.S. population will participate.
And, total online spend across retailers on Prime Day a year ago? It reached an all-time high of $11.9 billion, which represented 8.5% growth rate from the $11 billion in total online revenue that the event generated in 2021, according to Adobe Digital Economy Index data.
What Are Amazon Prime and Amazon Prime Day?
For the uninitiated, Amazon Prime is a subscription service that offers members such benefits as “free,” two-day, same-day or one-day shipping on millions of items, plus access to Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Reading, unlimited photo storage and more.
We emphasize the “free” part in our description because joining Amazon Prime does come at a subscription cost of $139 per year, or $14.99 per month.
Amazon Prime Day, meanwhile, is an annual sales event that offers exclusive deals and discounts for Prime members. It started in 2015 as a way to celebrate Amazon’s 20th anniversary and has become one of the most anticipated and ballyhooed shopping days of the year.
Prime Day 2023 will begin at 12:01 am Pacific time (3:01 am Eastern) on Tuesday, July 11, and run for 48 hours through Wednesday, July 12. As already advertised on television and its app, Amazon will offer thousands of deals on such items as electronics, fashion, home, beauty, toys and more.
“Early Prime Day Deals” already are under way and offered daily via Amazon’s website and app.
What to Expect From Amazon, and Others, on July 11-12
Prime Day not only is the biggest couple of days of the year for Amazon, but also for other businesses that either sell on its platform or compete with the e-commerce giant. Those businesses would include:
- Small businesses. Amazon is urging shoppers to support small businesses during Prime Day by offering a $10 credit to use on July 11-12 when they spend $10 or more on select small-business products.
- Third-party sellers. Many third-party sellers who use Amazon’s marketplace platform also offer discounts and promotions during Prime Day. Third-party sellers surpassed $3.5 billion in sales during Prime Day 2022, up nearly 60% from the previous year, according to Amazon.
- Competitors. As Prime Day has attracted more attention and shoppers since its 2015 start, other businesses small and large compete by marketing and offering their own sales and deals during the same period. Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Kohl’s, for example, all have announced their own rival events that will coincide with Prime Day this year.
More About That ‘Skipping Prime’ Poll
As soon as Amazon recently announced that its 2023 edition of Prime Day will be July 11-12, Numerator surveyed more than 500 consumers to learn of their awareness and shopping plans for the event.
Numerator is a data and tech company that advises top business leaders, and its recent polling found that 49% of respondents do plan to shop on Amazon Prime Day 2023 and an additional 36% said they “might” shop the sale.
When asked what might prevent them from participating in Amazon Prime Day this year, respondents’ top reasons were: “Nothing I want is on sale” (34%), “trying to save money” (29%), “prices aren’t low enough” (28%) and “I don’t have spare money right now” (22%).
The poll also found that respondents were split on their views of Amazon Prime Day’s sales and deals. One in four said they believe the deals have become more valuable over time, while 24% believe they have remained at the same level of value and 16% believe they have become less valuable.
Our prediction?
Most of those polled folks who said they “might” shop will, indeed, be surfing across Amazon’s platform on July 11 and 12 — and many of them will click on the iconic yellow button from the e-commerce giant that says “add to cart.”
