Prime Day Returns in Record Setting Form

This year’s Amazon Prime Day is in the books, and it was a good one. The two-day sale returned to its traditional July time slot after appearing in June and October over the past two years. That return to normalcy was apparent in the numbers as the company saw a record two days. They did not release specific sales numbers, although they revealed that over 300 million items had been purchased by Prime Members. The items are a record for Amazon and possibly a good sign of things to come. It doesn’t appear that inflation and supply chain shortages slowed down either day of shopping. If that pattern holds later in the year, retailers could see excellent results for the holiday shopping season. This is not just a good sign for Amazon, rather other retailers as well, many of which ran their own sales to rival Amazon.

The first half of 2022 has been difficult for everyone and there was significant interest in how Prime Day would fare. Despite high inflation, consumers have continued to spend and a major shopping event like this would finally put it to the test. The average order size for Prime day was $52.26, as compared to $44.75 in 2021, and the average household spent $144.56, according to Numerator. That significant jump is even more impressive when paired with their report of a record number of items being sold. Despite higher prices, consumers will still take advantage of deals on popular items. The most heavily discounted products were Amazon’s own, and they took the top 5 bestselling spots, Fire TV Sticks, Echo Dots, Blink Cameras, Gift Cards, and Ring Doorbells, according to Numerator. Consumer electronics always do well in sales like this; however, Numerator states, household products were the most purchased category and Frito-Lay Variety Packs ranked 6th. The focus on household essentials indicates that consumers are focusing more on needs that wants right now. Prime Day offered some of the lowest prices on everyday items that consumers have seen all year. This trend will be interesting to watch going forward and retailers may need to put a focus on popular CPGs for the coming seasonal sales.

Amazon Prime Day was a clear win for the company, yet it could signal future victories for other suppliers, manufacturers, and retailers. Even through a difficult economic climate, consumers are willing to spend for the items they need. This was a benchmark for the year to come and if the results are any indication for the 2nd half of the year, we can expect to see extraordinary consumer spending in spite of the challenges the economy has faced. Although time is short, there are still opportunities to make it to market with the fall/winter holidays in mind. Chain Store Guide is your resource to reach the buyers responsible for populating store shelves in the coming months.