Prime Day 2023: big deals, and big competition

Amazon Prime Day is important in many respects: as well as generating a significant portion of Amazon’s annual revenue, other retailers have jumped on its coattails to make the event a kind of alternative Cyber Monday; at the same time it’s a litmus test for online consumer behavior and an opportunity to magnify visibility for new brands.

The Prime Day opportunity 

• Last year, Amazon claimed shoppers spent more than $3bn on more than 100 million “small business items”, while brands that advertised during Prime Day in 2022 saw a 216% increase in awareness.
• Overall, Prime members bought more than 300 million products globally in 2022, more than any other previous year. Among those purchases, Amazon Devices, Consumer Electronics, and Home proved to be popular shopping categories.
• In the first eleven days of July 2022, Amazon advertisers reported an average of 42% purchases sourced from new customers; in contrast, they saw 57% on the two days of Prime Day, according to a survey from performance marketing firm Tinuiti.

Rival retailers cash in 

To capitalize off the customer base spurred on by Prime Day deals, other big retailers, including Walmart, Best Buy, and Target, have joined the party. And the deals are substantial. This year Best Buy, for example, was offering $980 off select Samsung refrigerators and 40% off some appliances.

Other brands are getting in on the deals too: Conde Nast Traveler rounded up a 31 “Prime Day Competitors Sales to Shop Right Now,” guide for wayward Amazon shoppers. 

Takeaways

• Prime Day sales make up an outsized portion of Amazon’s annual revenue – $25 billion, according to the FTC.
• Sponsored products are a large part of Prime Day sales, with sponsored sales making up 54% share of US sales on the first day of the holiday in 2022.
• Not all the deals during Amazon Prime day are necessarily the cheapest year-round – but the holiday continues to attract large swaths of shoppers.