Advertisers and consumers alike are curiously awaiting Prime Day 2021 after last year brought unprecedented changes to Amazon’s annual shopping event. As we approach a post-pandemic market, what can businesses expect this year and what can you do to ensure Prime Day is a success for your brand?
Stay tuned to this blog to be the first to uncover the latest Amazon Prime Day 2021 news, updates, stats, and trends. We’ll provide updates as soon as they come in to help you be proactive this Prime Day season.
August 11
Key takeaways from Prime Day 2021
Prime Day 2021 was big. But was it the biggest ever? It depends. Amazon hasn’t said that this year’s event set a new record for total Prime Day, but they have said that Prime Day 2021 was the biggest two-day period ever for 3P sellers on Amazon.
At the same time, competition from smaller third-party sellers was heavier than ever, especially in the consumer-packaged goods category. Larger, first-party advertisers saw lower total impression volume and higher CPCs than previous years.
For ROI clients, Amazon Prime Day 2021 ad sales grew 82% over 2020.
Prime members also saved more than any Prime Day before, with 20 countries seeing more Prime Day shopping this year than any other year.
The top categories worldwide for Prime Day 2021 were tools, beauty, nutrition, baby care, electronics, apparel, and household products.
July 1 update
Amazon Prime Day 2021: The stats we know
Total Amazon Prime Day sales amounted to $10.4 billion in 2020 after being moved to mid-October due to the coronavirus pandemic, with sales from small- to mid-sized businesses accounting for $3.5 billion.
After last year’s event unexpectedly taking place in the fall, one out of every three Prime Day shoppers now say they prefer the event to occur in the summer.
148.6 million US consumers are Amazon Prime members, up from just 99.7 million in 2017. That number is expected to grow to 153.1 million next year.
Prime Day shoppers who spent less than $100 over last year’s event were 4x less likely to shop this year, while those who spent over $500 over Prime Day 2020 were 2x more likely to spend even more this year.
This year, the average Prime Day order was $44.75, with 45% of orders coming in at $20 or less. Prime Day order value has decreased each year over the past three years, averaging at $54.64 in 2020 and $58.91 in 2019.
The Prime Day halo effect remained prominent this year, with 20% of Prime Day shoppers also purchasing from another retailer on Prime Day. 25% of Prime Day shoppers considered taking advantage of Walmart’s Deals for Days and Target’s Deal Days, which both took place over the same period as Amazon Prime Day.
Only 64% of Prime Day shoppers bought solely from Amazon on Prime Day.
Part of Amazon Prime Day 2021’s deals included a special promotion giving $10 customers who spent $10 with a small business on Amazon in the two-week period prior to Prime Day. That promotion brought nearly $2 billion in sales to Amazon across 70 million small businesses.
June 24 update
Prime Day 2021: The early numbers
Consumers purchased over 250 million items over the course of Amazon Prime Day 2021. In 2019, Prime Day resulted in 175 million items sold.
The event typically occurs every year around the same time, but the ripple effects of COVID-19 forced Amazon to push last year’s event from a summer timeline to October. With less time in between Prime Days, it’s possible that 2021 saw smaller year-over-year sales growth than previous years.
Gross merchandise volume (GMV) was up approximately 7% year-over-year, reaching $9.55 billion. In 2020, GMV grew 54% year-over-year.
The halo effect was also in full force, with total U.S. ecommerce sales for Amazon and its competitors (including Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Kohl’s) reaching $11 billion over the course of Prime Day. That’s 6.1% higher than the total ecommerce sales seen over Amazon Prime Day 2020.
June 20 was the biggest day yet in 2021 for overall ecommerce sales in the US.
More estimated sales numbers are expected to come as more data rolls in and gets analyzed. Stay tuned for more stats and data specific to Prime Day 2021.
June 17 update
Prime Day 2020 ROI wins
ROI clients from varying industries saw tremendous success over last year’s shopping holiday, with the strongest revenue on day 2 of Prime Day. A sports equipment client even saw day 2 revenue increase 100% over day 1 revenue.
A manufacturing & hardware brand saw a 23% revenue increase compared to the Tuesday & Wednesday of the prior week by driving Sponsored Brands traffic to their featured product page. The client featured deals across multiple categories and had separate campaigns for featured Prime Day ASINs
Another manufacturing & hardware brand featured deals across multiple categories, with separate campaigns for featured Prime Day ASINs. As a result, the brand saw a 105% revenue increase compared to the Tuesday & Wednesday of the week before.
One of our clients in the technology industry didn’t have any Prime Day deals, but still saw residual success from increased traffic to Amazon thanks to the Prime Day halo effect. Sales increased 329% iat a 58% lower ACoS. The majority of sales were driven by Sponsored Brands and Amazon’s “Back to Study” landing page.
One of ROI’s food & beverage clients benefited from the Small Business Deals Page and featuring Lightning Deals on different products each day. In fact, this brand saw the best sales days in their account history, with Sponsored Brands Video seeing the most significant revenue increase.
June 15 update
Supporting small businesses
To align with consumers’ heightened interest in supporting small and local businesses last year, Amazon featured special promotions for small businesses last Prime Day.
A “spend $10, get $10” promotion for Prime members who purchased from a small business in the weeks leading up to Prime Day helped drive $900 million in total sales. Third-party sellers (which are mostly SMBs) also broke records in 2020, with Prime Day delivering the two biggest sales days ever.
3P sellers saw sales surpass $3.5 billion from Prime Day 2020 – nearly a 60% increase over 2019.
Amazon’s marketplace sales have steadily declined over each Prime Day due to Amazon heavily promoting its own products. However, the share of marketplace sales went up year-over-year for the first time in 2020. Marketplace sales comprised an estimated 35% of Prime Day sales last year, up from 32% in 2019.
June 14 update
Most popular Amazon Prime Day 2020 products
Overall best-selling categories included home, electronics, nutrition & wellness, and arts, crafts, & sewing. Similarly, best-selling categories for third-party sellers (3P) included bedding, wireless accessories, nutrition & wellness, arts, crafts, & sewing, and health care.
Globally, the most popular item purchased on last year’s Prime Day was the Echo Dot, which was consequently out of stock until December. Many Alexa-compatible devices saw a record-breaking Prime Day last year. Additionally, consumers purchased a record number of Fire TV Edition Smart TVs.
Top-selling deals in the U.S. included the iRobot Roomba Robot Vacuum, MyQ Wireless & WiFi Enabled Smart Garage Door Opener, LifeStraw Personal Water Filter, Goli Apple Cider Vinegar Vitamins, and Kids Against Maturity: Card Game for Kids and Families.
June 11 update
The Prime Day halo effect
Amazon Prime Day 2020 helped prove that the Prime Day halo effect is real. Amazon wasn’t the only retail giant that saw big wins over this year’s Prime Day period. 51% of Digital Commerce 360’s top 100 online retailers had special sales on October 13, the first day of Prime Day last year.
Compared to the Tuesday before Amazon Prime Day 2020, non-Amazon retail sites in the U.S. saw traffic increase 17% and conversion rates increase 13%. Compared to Prime Day 2019, traffic was up 51% and conversion rates were up 16%. Online sales for non-Amazon retail sites in the U.S. grew 76% on the first day of Prime Day 2020 compared to the first day of Prime Day 2019.
June 3 update
Amazon Prime Day 2021 dates announced
Amazon Prime Day 2021’s official dates are Monday, June 21st and Tuesday, June 22nd, 2021. Stay tuned for more stats and updates as the annual shopping event approaches.
After an unprecedented move from July to October and alongside significant supply chain strain, last year’s Amazon Prime Day delivered $10.4 billion in sales. That was up 45.2% from $7.16 billion in 2019 and a whopping 148.2% from $4.19 billion in 2018.
The annual sales event took place on October 13 and October 14 this year across the U.S. and 18 other countries. Prime members saved more than $1.4 billion over the two-day sales event, according to a press release from Amazon.
April 13 update
Amazon Prime Day Lightning Deal submissions to close April 16th
The deadline for brands to submit Lightning Deals for Prime Day is fast approaching. After April 16, brands will not be able to submit Lightning Deal requests to participate in Prime Day. Submissions opened on March 8.
Lightning Deals are the special promotions that allow brands to discount products on Prime Day. They’re available year-round, but when it comes to Prime Day, these deals are necessary for brands that want to participate.
Last year, Lightning Deals helped bring in over $1.4 billion in savings for Prime shoppers along with record-breaking revenue for Amazon and 3P sellers alike.
Want to learn more about Lightning Deals and make sure you’re implementing a successful Prime Day promotion strategy? Reach out to our Amazon experts to get answers, insights, and opportunities to put your brand on the path to a profitable Prime Day.
