On July 11th and 12th, Amazon Prime Day saw a staggering 12.7 billion dollars in consumer spending, a 6.1% increase from the prior year. People purchased 375 million items, up from 300 million the prior year, making it the biggest shopping day in Amazon’s history.
This year’s sales also highlighted the staying power of curbside pickup, with 20% of orders falling into this category. It’s a trend that has grown since the start of the pandemic as shoppers moved to the digital space to buy items and picked them up rather than having them delivered.
Amazon Prime Day has become an annual tradition, with the e-commerce giant utilizing the midsummer shopping extravaganza to kickstart the back-to-school and college shopping seasons. Other of retail stores such as Walmart and Best Buy have adopted similar strategies with their own ‘Sale Days’, and the numbers show that shoppers are responding positively to such events.
JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth commented that such sales “capture shopper spending during slow summer months,” and Adobe Digital Insights Principal Analyst Vivek Pandya has likewise affirmed that “Prime Day has become one of the biggest e-commerce times of the year.”
These sales have had a beneficial influence not just on retailer pockets, but also on consumer spending. Amazon shares on Thursday have increased by about 2 dollars to $133, a further bolstering of the success that faces the tech giant. With such demand, Amazon Prime Day looks poised to have a strong and stable future.