Adobe Analytics: Prime Day drove $14.2 billion online for U.S. retailers, growing 11 percent YoY

Image credit: Adobe Stock/ Vlad Chorniy.

It’s that time of year again – Prime Day! Happening across 2 days (July 16-17, 2024), Prime Day has become a major industry-wide e-commerce moment, as consumers take advantage of discounts across retailers.

Today, we’re releasing our online shopping insights for the 2024 Prime Day event. Based on Adobe Analytics data, the report provides the most comprehensive view into U.S. e-commerce by analyzing commerce transactions online, covering over one trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs and 18 product categories. Adobe Analytics is part of Adobe Experience Cloud, relied upon by over 85 percent of the top 100 internet retailers in the U.S.* to deliver, measure and personalize shopping experiences online.

Prime Day spending sets new record

Consumers spent $7.2 billion on July 16 (Tuesday), the first day of the Prime Day event, which represents 11.7 percent growth year-over-year (YoY). On the second day (July 17, Wednesday), consumers spent $7 billion online, up 10.4 percent YoY. This brought the final 2-day total to $14.2 billion, up 11.0 percent YoY and setting a new record for Prime Day.

Consumers have embraced shopping on smaller screens, with mobile devices driving nearly half (49.2 percent) of online purchases versus desktop shopping — Across both days, $7 billion was spent through mobile devices, up a significant 18.6 percent YoY.

Back-to-school shoppers and product refresh cycle drove growth

Strong growth this year has been driven in part by back-to-school shopping, with the Prime Day event happening later in the month (the 2023 event was from July 11-12) and being closer to when many start school in August. Spend for products such as backpacks, lunchboxes, stationery, and other school/office supplies are up 216 percent across both days (compared to daily sales levels in June 2024), while spend for kid’s apparel is up 165 percent in the same time period.

Another growth driver is an apparent product refresh cycle, with consumers looking to upgrade or add new electronics and home furnishings to their homes. Online sales for the electronics category are up 61 percent across the 2-day event (compared to average daily sales in June 2024), driven by products including tablets (up 117 percent), televisions (up 111 percent), headphones and bluetooth speakers (up 105 percent), fitness trackers (up 88 percent), computers (up 80 percent), smartphones (up 71 percent), and cameras (up 60 percent).

Across  home,  furniture, and  appliances, online sales for small kitchen appliances are up 76 percent across both days, as well as kitchenware and cookware (up 25 percent), mattresses (up 21 percent), home office furniture (up 14 percent), and bedroom furniture (up 11 percent). And in  apparel, online sales for suits are up 36 percent across both days, in addition to outerwear (up 19 percent), footwear (up 17 percent), and accessories (up 17 percent).

Additional Adobe Analytics insights

• Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL): Across the 2-day event, BNPL orders accounted for 7.6 percent of online orders. The flexible payment method drove $1.08 billion of online spend, up an impressive 16.4 percent YoY as consumers seek more flexibility in managing their daily expenses.

• Discounts:  Since the 2023 holiday shopping season, retailers have leaned into discounts to drive growth, given a demand environment that remains unpredictable. Shoppers found great deals across both days, with electronics peaking at 23 percent off listed price (vs. 14 percent in 2023). Steeper discounting was also seen in apparel at 20 percent (vs. 12 percent in 2023), home/furniture at 16 percent (vs. 9 percent), televisions at 16 percent (vs. 5 percent), toys at 15 percent (vs. 12 percent),  appliances at 14 percent (vs. 7 percent), sporting goods at 11 percent (vs. 6 percent) and computers at 11 percent (vs. 8 percent).

• Impact of Social Media:  From email marketing to paid search, consumers were driven to U.S. retail sites in different ways. Adobe Analytics data profiles how much each channel contributed to online sales. Social networks saw a large lift when it came to revenue contribution (up 11.1 percent across both days) — right behind display (up 12.5 percent) — and highlights the impact of social content and influencers. Other notable sales drivers included direct traffic (up 10.7 percent), and affiliates/partners (up 8.2 percent).

• Curbside Pickup:  This fulfillment method was used in 18.9 percent of online orders across the 2-day event (for retailers who offer the service), again highlighting the staying power of a service that can provide speed and convenience. This is down slightly from last year at 20.2 percent.

• E-commerce Forecast: With the bump from the Prime Day event, Adobe expects $84.4 billion to be spent in the full month of July 2024, representing 8.2 percent growth YoY. By the end of September 2024 (nearing the Nov-Dec holiday shopping season), Adobe is forecasting $732 billion in online spend for the year, representing 7.3 percent growth YoY.

Impact of inflation:  Strong consumer spending this year has been driven by net-new demand, as opposed to higher prices. The Adobe Digital Price Index, which tracks online prices across 18 product categories, shows that e-commerce prices have fallen for 22 months now — down 4.2 percent YoY in June 2024. Adobe’s numbers are not adjusted for inflation, but if online inflation were factored in, there would be even higher growth in topline consumer spend.