Dive Brief:
- Amazon’s October Prime Big Deal Days, which ran Tuesday and Wednesday, helped drive $9.86 billion in online sales for U.S. retailers, according to data from Adobe. As in past years, the event drew competing sales from retailers including Target.
- Online demand during the period was driven by discounted prices, Adobe said, while noting that “shoppers prioritized getting the best value for their dollar.” The markdowns topped out at 20% off listed price, and noteworthy promotional pricing in computers, televisions, electronics, toys and apparel led many shoppers to trade up to higher-ticket items.
- Mobile-led impulse shopping boosted sales for the period, and Adobe said mobile remained “the dominant transaction channel.” Mobile sales grew 12.8% year over year to $5.1 billion and accounted for 52% of all online sales during the Prime Big Deal Days timeframe.
Dive Insight:
October sales events, led by Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, gave retailers a pre-holiday season boost.
Across all tracked categories, “the share of the most expensive goods increased by 21%” compared to average levels for the year to date. Electronics and personal care products in particular saw a significant boost, and the share of the most expensive goods in those categories was up 45% and 34%, respectively, for the two-day period.
Consumers also took advantage of this year’s October deals to buy essentials. Strong categories included household cleaning/paper products (up 55%), personal hygiene products (up 45%), pet food (up 45%) and apparel basics (up 25%).
Last year, the October event drove $9.09 billion in online sales, representing a 7.3% increase over 2024.
“[October Prime Big Deal Days] has changed the shape of the holiday shopping season, pushing U.S. retailers to manage promotions and inventory effectively to capture an additional pre-season spike in shopping interest,” Adobe said in its report.
Half of the shoppers during Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days compared prices at other retailers such as Walmart, which ran a competing sale, according to a report from Numerator. However, that data found that consumers who bought something during both retailers’ sales events “spent 8% more on Amazon during Prime Big Deal Days than the average Prime Big Deal Days shopper.”
In addition, Numerator found that Amazon sales outpaced Walmart, with average household spend reaching $114, just below the $122 spend Numerator saw during June’s Prime Day event. October’s event also saw household spending on Amazon reach almost double what an average Tuesday and Wednesday would be for the retailer, which Numerator added was “four times the lift Walmart recorded during the first two days of its sale.”
“Inflation is making Prime Big Deal Days more important to shoppers,” Numerator said, adding that 74% of shoppers cited inflation as a reason for them to shop the event — up four percentage points from June’s Prime Day.
Budget-conscious shoppers also took advantage of the buy now, pay later flexible payment option at Amazon, per Adobe. BNPL accounted for 6% of total online orders for the two-day event, or $692.3 million, representing an increase of 4% year over year. Adobe projected BNPL usage to increase as the holiday season unfolds, and forecast that it would drive more than $1 billion in sales on Cyber Monday.
That said, strong sales in October may also lead consumers to spend less as the holidays draw near.
“Earlier holiday shopping could put pressure on November sales events,” Numerator said in its report. “More than a third of shoppers completed at least half of their holiday shopping during Prime Big Deal Days, while intent to shop Black Friday and Cyber Monday fell 4 and 5 points, respectively, compared with last year’s event.”
