Online spending in the U.S. reached $11.9 billion U.S. during e-commerce company Amazon’s
(AMZN) Prime Day sales event, according to data from Adobe (ADBE).
Preliminary data shows that the sales extravaganza gave a boost to online sales at competing
retailers such as Walmart (WMT) and Target (TGT), which held their own sales in tandem with
Amazon.
For its part, Amazon says it sold more than 300 million items over the two-day Prime event, the
most merchandise ever sold. Popular items sold ranged from diapers to Apple watches.
The online spending was at the higher end of expectations, according to Adobe, which
calculates total online spending across multiple retailers, based on transactions involving more
then 100 million products.
The average Amazon order during the Prime Day event cost $55.26 U.S., up 17% from last
year’s sales event. Two-thirds (67%) of shoppers did all their shopping on Amazon and did not
seek out other retailers.
Spending on Amazon was forecast to reach $7.76 billion U.S. in America and $12.5 billion U.S.
globally for the entire Prime Day event, each up about 17% from a year ago, according to
research firm EMarketer, which said inflation has made consumers hungry for deals.
Amazon launched Prime Day in 2015 to attract new subscribers who pay $139 U.S. a year for
shipping discounts, video streaming, and other benefits.
Amazon announced last month that it will hold two Prime Day sales event this year, with the
second one taking place during the year end holidays.
So far this year, Amazon stock has declined 35% to $110.63 U.S. The stock split on a 20-for-1
basis in June this year.