This year's Prime Day saw customers spending a record $12.7 billion on July 11th and 12th, according to Adobe Analytics. Sales were particularly heavy on the second day, when customers spent $6.3 billion - up 6.4% from the previous year.
Amazon's yearly Prime Day event forces competitors to roll out their own promotions, making each year's event slightly different based on current trends and buying behaviors. This year, one notable factor was the increase in Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) options. BNPL was up 21% on the second day of Prime Day compared to last year, and was chosen for 6.5% of orders across both days. This allowed more consumers to purchase big ticket items such as furniture and electronics, which they may otherwise have been unable to afford.
Discounts weren't as dramatic this year, likely due to the peak discounts already seen pre-Prime Day around Independence Day. Online discounts peaked at 25% on July 4th, according to Salesforce, but had dropped to 18% by Prime Day. The average selling price saw an 8% year-on-year increase due to inflation, and top selling categories included electronics, appliances, toys and learning (up 6% YoY online sales growth), food and beverage (up 6% YoY online sales growth) and active apparel and footwear (0% YoY online sales growth).
Retail Media Networks also contributed to Prime Day returns, with traffic referred to retail websites from RMNs increasing by more than 70% over last year, according to Salesforce. This indicates that consumers were researching products for a month or longer before making purchases - even if discounts weren't as dramatic.
Overall, Prime Day saw a 6.1% year-on-year increase in spending, with BNPL and Retail Media Networks playing an important role. This is indicative of current consumer trends and buying behaviour, and provides useful insights for retailers ahead of the busy holiday shopping season.
Originally reported by Martech: https://martech.org/ecommerce-sets-new-prime-day-record-up-6-1/
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