Amazon.com Inc.’s fifth-annual Amazon Prime Day will be a 48-hour event spanning Monday and Tuesday, July 15-16. Internet Retailer projects Amazon will sell more than $6 billion worth of goods on Prime Day(s), making this Amazon’s biggest sales event ever.
Amazon doesn’t disclose sales figures on Prime Day, but Internet Retailer estimates gross merchandise sales hit $4.19 billion globally during the 36-hour sale July 16-17 in 2018. And this year, sales will jump 46.5% to $6.14 billion. Comparatively, gross sales grew 74% in 2018 from $2.41 billion during Prime Day 2017 (a 30-hour sales event July 11-12, 2017). Amazon in 2017 grew its overall Prime Day sales by 60% over the 24-hour Prime Day 2016 sales event.
Several factors drive Internet Retailer’s projected 46.5% increase. The biggest reason for high growth: Prime Day will span 48 hours this year, 12 hours longer than last year’s 36-hour sale. The event will begin at midnight Pacific Time on July 15.
Second, this year’s sale will feature more than 1 million discounts, Amazon says, including a number of limited-time offers and exclusive launches online and in Amazon’s physical stores, such as Amazon Books and Whole Foods Market.
While it didn’t disclose how many discounts there were in prior years, some industry experts believe there are more sellers offering Prime Day deals this year than in previous years. Specifically, it seems more brands—both big and small—will offer Prime Day deals this summer, likely due to the success Amazon had during last year’s event, says Fahim Naim, founder and CEO of eShopportunity, a consultancy that helps brands sell on Amazon.
It’s no surprise that more brands will be participating in Prime Day this year, as there are more brands selling on Amazon this year compared with last year. For example, 176 retailers ranked in the 2019 Internet Retailer Top 500 sell on Amazon this year, up from 104 in 2018.
Third, Amazon has more Prime members now than it did this time last year, widening the pool of potential Prime Day customers. Prime Day deals are only available to members of Amazon’s Prime loyalty program, which now costs $119 annually for U.S. consumers. With Prime, U.S. members get expedited shipping on their orders, access to streaming music and video content, among other perks. Amazon has 105 million Prime members in the U.S. as of the end of June, up from 95 million in June 2018, according to estimates from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP).
Additionally, nearly 28% of U.S. online shoppers made a purchase on Prime Day last year, according to an exclusive Internet Retailer and Toluna survey of 1,006 online consumers conducted July 18-19, 2018. Internet Retailer asked shoppers the same question in 2017 in a survey conducted with Bizrate Insights. In that survey, 21.8% of online shoppers said they made a purchase on Prime Day 2017. This suggests each year consumers are getting more familiar with the sales event.
In addition, this year’s sale will be available to consumers in 18 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, China and Australia. That’s one more than last year, with the addition of United Arab Emirates, and five more than 2017.
While Internet Retailer’s projection shows a high growth of 46%, this is slower growth compared with last year. During Q1 2019, Amazon reported a 10% growth in its online store, which includes sales of its products and digital content online. Comparatively, in Q1 2018, Amazon reported an 18% year-over-year increase.
Predictions for Amazon and other merchants during the two-day Amazon Prime Day event:
- Non-Amazon retail sites will see ecommerce revenue growth of 51% during Prime Day compared to a 60% growth last year, according to technology vendor Salesforce Commerce Cloud.
- 74% of orders from retailers’ sites will be shipped for free on Prime Day, up from 73% last year, Salesforce says. On average, retailers will discount products at a 21% discount rate, down from 23% last year.
- On Amazon, 49% of orders and 66% of visits will come from mobile phones, up from 44% of orders and 61% of visits last year, according to Salesforce.
- 59% of shoppers that say they will shop on Prime Day plan to buy an Amazon-branded device, according to publisher PCMag survey of 1,000 expectant Prime Day shoppers.
- Roughly 60% of more than 1,000 consumers surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers say they signed up for a Prime membership because of Prime Day discounts. Additionally, the report says electronics are the most popular items on Prime Day, as 67% of shoppers surveyed say they are looking for deals on electronics.
- Most consumers intend to pre-plan and research the products and categories they will shop on Prime Day and only 21% expect to shop spontaneously on the day, according to a survey of 2,500 consumers by Periscope by McKinsey in May 2019. 30% of shoppers anticipate spending a bit more than last year, while 15% have plans to spend much more, according to the survey.
Amazon is No. 1 in the Internet Retailer 2019 Top 500.
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