Day One for Amazon’s Prime Day Lights up Online Sales

Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Day online shopping extravaganza got off to a record-setting start Tuesday, and without much of an assist from inflation. The day saw $7.9 billion in spending, up 9.9% from the same day last year, according to data compiled by Adobe Analytics, which tracks the annual event.

The day, which Adobe declared “the single biggest e-commerce day so far this year,” represented the start of a four-day shopping spree that will conclude Friday. It also represented a resurgence for online commerce, which has sagged somewhat since the growth surge seen during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.

Nor did inflation have much to do with the spending surge. Rather, it was “driven by net-new demand as opposed to higher prices,” Adobe says in its first-day report on the event. Indeed, e-commerce prices have dropped across the past 34 months, according to Adobe’s Digital Price Index, which analyzes online prices in 18 product categories.

Two other clear trends from the first day of the shopping spree were consumer adoption of generative AI chat services and an even stronger embrace of buy now, pay later options. Gen AI traffic to U.S. merchant sites during the day mushroomed by fully 4,100% year-over-year, Adobe said, as measured by the volume of shoppers clicking on a link. “The growth shows the impact of AI on shoppers looking for deals or specific product details,” Adobe’s report says.

At the same time, BNPL orders came to 6.4% of all of the orders, accounting for a 13.6% surge in revenue to $613.4 million, according to Adobe. Meanwhile, paid search led to 28.1% of all sales, making it “the top driver of retail sales,” Adobe says, while “affiliates and partners” (including social-media influencers) and social networks also playing a stronger role than in the past. The first Prime Day took place in July 2015, though at that time the event was only for one day.

Discounting may have played a role in the online surge, as dollars-off ranged from 9% to 23% on Tuesday. Adobe says this range should apply to the remainder of the event, as well.

As a result of the strong first-day performance, total sales for U.S. merchants should come to $23.8 billion over the four days, Adobe forecasts, up 28.4% over last year’s event. “This is equivalent to two Black Fridays,” Adobe’s report says, referring to the day after Thanksgiving, historically a heavy pre-Christmas shopping day.