Hot, hot, hot: Whether you love it, hate it, or are indifferent, Amazon loves its Prime Day event. The mega sale has become the Black Friday of the summer, with customers often purchasing more than they can afford (see the 'Buy Now Pay Later' figures below). No wonder the company launched a Fall version last year.
Amazon's Prime Day (see our tech picks here), which is actually two days, is off to a record start. According to data from Adobe Analytics, US customers purchased more than $6.4 billion worth of goods from the online retail giant on Tuesday – the first day of the event.
Day-one Prime Day revenue is up by six percent over 2022, making it the largest e-commerce day of 2023 so far. The most significant contributors to the sales figures were appliances (up 37 percent YoY), toys (up 27 percent), clothing (up 26 percent), and electronics (up 12 percent).
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According to figures from Numerator's live Prime Day tracker, as of 1:00 am EDT, individual orders averaged about $56, up from about $53 in 2022. However, over 60 percent of Prime Day buyers placed two or more orders on day one, with an average spend of $141.53 per household. A breakdown of demographics shows that most transactions were conducted by high-income suburban females aged 35-44. The majority (83 percent) have been Prime members since 2019 or earlier. Men only accounted for 21 percent of day-one sales.
TechCrunch notes that Adobe's numbers indicate that Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) orders increased by 18.5 percent over last year's first day. Apparel, home furnishings, and electronics drove this year's BNPL, bringing in about $461 million. Consumers carried out just under half (43.7 percent) of all orders via the Amazon mobile app, only slightly higher than the 42.7 percent from 2022.
Established in 2015, Prime Day 2023 celebrates its ninth anniversary. Traditionally, Amazon holds the event once a year during the summer. However, in 2022 it conducted a second Prime Day in October. The company has not indicated whether it intends to hold a second Prime Day sale this year.