The results are in and Amazon’s (NASDAQ:$AMZN) 2017 Prime Day proved what we already knew: The e-commerce giant owns the consumer.
This year’s annual event ran laps around the records set in 2016, but the benefits are likely to be felt down the line. According to the Washington-based company, the 30-hour event of deals – which began at 9 pm ET on Monday and ended on Tuesday at 3 am ET – outperformed both Cyber Monday and Black Friday. This makes it the “biggest day ever” in the company’s history. In comparison to last year, the event increased by more than 60%, with a record number of Prime members making purchases across 13 different countries.
When looking at the numbers, Amazon reported that the most popular purchase amongst Prime members was the Echo Dot. The tech giant noted that the actual number of Prime shoppers increased more than 50% in comparison to 2016. Other than Amazon-owned devices, the most popular items purchased in the United States were the Instant Pot pressure cooker and 23andMe DNA tests. Additionally, Amazon said that there were record sales of Kindle devices and Fire tablets.
Though Amazon has yet to announce specific sales figures from this year’s Prime Day, JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth has predicted that the event could bring in as much as $1 billion in revenue, up from 55% year-over-year from 2016’s estimated sales of $640 million. In 2017, Amazon opened up the event to China, India, and Mexico, which, combined with better promotions, is likely the cause of the event being at record-setting levels, Anmuth noted.
Even though Amazon tends to give additional data regarding Prime Day after the release of its quarterly results, one can already tell without hard data that this year’s Prime Day surpassed expectations. While July is often recognized as the second-slowest shopping month of the year, Amazon took a random day in July and turned it into a day of extreme profit. All together, this illustrates that Amazon has control and brand recognition among consumers, said Jan Kniffen, the CEO of J.Rogers Kniffen. “They had one hell of a day. It’s going to give them a huge share of the retail market for July, at least.”
What started out as a way to celebrate the anniversary of the company has turned into a beloved annual event for both the company and Prime members. The event itself gives Amazon a heads up on how consumers are feeling about the brand, what they are interested in purchasing, and more importantly, what kinds of marketing they respond to. “Amazon knows they’ve got the attention of the consumer,” Kniffen added.
By Wednesday’s close, Amazon’s shares advanced 1.2% to $1,006.51.
Featured Image: twitter
