Dive Brief:
- Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sale on Tuesday and Wednesday was the company’s largest-ever October holiday sales event, with “hundreds of millions of items sold,” the retailer said in a Thursday announcement.
- On Tuesday, Amazon said U.S. Prime members bought more than 25 million items with same-day or next-day delivery. Prime members also ordered more than 150 million items from independent sellers in Amazon’s store.
- This week’s sale follows July’s two-day Prime Day event, the first day of which was the single largest sales day in Amazon’s history, the company said. Amazon didn’t disclose specific sales or revenue numbers but said its members “saved more than $1 billion across millions of deals.”
Dive Insight:
Amazon did not answer Retail Dive's questions about the how much was spent in total or average cart numbers regarding its Prime Big Deal Days. Instead, a company spokesperson said that Amazon was pleased with the results and didn't have further comment.
Amazon did say that apparel, beauty, home and toys were among the best-selling categories. A preliminary report from Numerator offers further insight into consumers' behavior around this week's Amazon promotion.
“Big Deal Days was Amazon’s most successful fall sale to date and second most successful sale overall behind 2023’s blockbuster summer Prime Day,” Numerator analyst Amanda Schoenbauer said in an emailed comment.
“While nearly as many households participated in this week’s sale as did July’s Prime Day, households spent less on average during the Big Deal Days sale. Staple items like batteries and groceries moved the most volume, while Apple products like AirPods Pro, iPads and Apple Watches generated the most revenue,” Schoenbauer said.
According to Numerator, the average order size during Prime Big Deal Days was $53.47. That’s down from July's Prime Day sale but up slightly from last October's Prime Early Access sale. Fifty-five percent of households shopping Prime Big Deal Days placed two or more separate orders, bringing the average household spend to about $124.09.
Numerator reported the top-five items based on the number of units purchased were Premier Protein Shakes, Amazon Basics batteries, Fire TV Sticks, Liquid I.V. Hydration Packs and Energizer AA Batteries. Nearly 60% of Prime Big Deal Days items sold for under $20, while 4% were over $100. The average spend per item was $27.90.
Numerator tracked 73,342 Amazon orders and 31,607 unique buyers who purchased 137,111 items. The preliminary analysis is based on 3,000 verified buyer surveys.
“Prime Big Deal Days was a strong start to the holiday shopping season, offering Prime members an exclusive early opportunity to save and surpassing our expectations,” Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, said in a press release. “This event outpaced last year’s holiday kick-off event, with more Prime members shopping this year.”
Numerator’s analysis found that 95% of shoppers were aware of this week’s sale before visiting Amazon, 85% said the sale was the primary reason for shopping, and 72% of this week’s shoppers also bought during Prime Day in July.
Numerator also said many people who participated in this week’s Amazon event expect to or already have shopped at retailers’ other pre-holiday sales, including at rivals Target and Walmart. Over half who shopped at Amazon this week also plan to shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, too.
